Heaven's Lost Property: Dark Skies
by grey987
Summary: A new male angeloid is out to kill Tomoki Sakurai yet again. But, he fails his mission and ends up slowly falling in love with Ikaros, Tomoki's angeloid. While struggling to cope with his newfound feelings of love, a new and powerful threat soon emerges, one that the Angeloids may not be able to stop. Rated T for violence, minor coarse language and minor suggestive adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: ****Forgive me if any of the characters from the anime/manga are out of character.**

**This takes place after Chapter 77 in the manga (the final chapter).**

* * *

The sky. So vast and filled with mystery. Currently undisturbed. Or, that's at least what it seemed like one day in the season of autumn. Near a small place in Japan called Sorami City, something mysterious flew through the sky, parting multiple clouds as it passed by. The object flew at an incredibly fast rate, actually equal to that of a certain blonde-haired Angeloid, one of a few living with a boy named Tomoki Sakurai. Little did this boy know that this object flying through the sky near Sorami City was yet _another _Angeloid. And like the others before this one with the exception of Ikaros, this Angeloid was out to kill Tomoki. The only question that was posed, however, was if it would be able to complete its mission.

* * *

Tomoki slowly woke up from his sleep, the ceiling of his room obscured by something he couldn't quite see.

"Good morning, Master," said a voice. Feminine. A bit timid. Tomoki focused his eyes on what was in front of him, and he realized it was a pair of breasts covered by a white fabric with a black outline. He looked further up and realized whose breasts he was staring at. It was Ikaros, staring at him intently with an expressionless face and glinting green-blue eyes as she was bent over him. Tomoki, while being woken up several times in this manner, still found it quite odd and scary. He had to constantly remind himself that Angeloids don't sleep. Tomoki merely rubbed his eyes with his arm, very unlike his previous reactions where he'd freak out.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that," Tomoki moaned, Ikaros sitting by his side as he sat up on his bed.

"Breakfast has already been prepared for you and the others, Master," Ikaros said, tracking Tomoki's every movement.

"Alright, that's great. Thanks, Ikaros." Tomoki stood up and headed for the door leading for the stairs, before realizing that Ikaros was still sitting by his bed. Her head was downcast, a slight blush on her cheeks as she looked to be deep in thought.

"Hey, Ikaros, aren't you coming?" The pink-haired Angeloid snapped out of her trance and looked at Tomoki. Her blush didn't go away however, it instead deepened as she looked at him.

"Yes, Master." Ikaros stood up and followed her master out the door.

* * *

The Angeloid finally arrived in Sorami City, and soon slowed its flight speed, hovering above the city. It began to scan through the city, looking for Tomoki's house. Every now and then the Angeloid would move to a new location if he couldn't find the house. After its 7th move to a new location, it finally located Tomoki's house.

"Target acquired," the Angeloid said to himself. As it turns out, this Angeloid was a male, unlike the others.

"I will not fail. Not like the others. I am only a first generation Angeloid, but I will not fail."

* * *

After breakfast, Tomoki got dressed and went out to the place overlooking Sorami City where Hiyori Kazane usually goes. He sighed, a smile of content spread across his lips. Nothing like peace and quiet, he thought. Suddenly, Tomoki became self-conscious about his smile, and a horrifying memory flashed in his mind.

* * *

_"I don't... understand," she had said. "I don't... understand... freedom... I don't want freedom! I only want... to be by Master's side..."_

_Tomoki was utterly shocked. He was soon horrified with himself for what he did earlier that day._

_"Don't... throw me away..." she pleaded, bringing Tomoki into a tight embrace as she sobbed. She pleaded the same thing over and over again._

_"Please... don't throw me away..."_

_I... just... Tomoki thought. _

_"Don't throw me away... my... master..."_

_I wanted... you... to laugh... Tomoki thought. Ikaros sobbed loudly, tightly clutching Tomoki's head and pressing it against her shoulder._

_I'm... such an idiot... Tomoki thought to himself. He brought his hand to Ikaros' collar, and soon the imprinting process was redone, the broken chain wounding itself around Tomoki's hand and mending itself on its own accord. He dropped his arm then, his body limp as Ikaros continued to hold him in a tight embrace above the sea she was just about to throw Tomoki into moments earlier._

* * *

Tomoki had undone the imprint that bonded him and Ikaros one day to try to get her to smile or laugh, seeing as Nymph and Astraea could and the only difference between them and Ikaros was that the two other Angeloids were without a chain. The results were disastrous, causing Ikaros to become aggressive towards Tomoki in an attempt to make him her master again, and the sadistic Mikako to order Ikaros to discard Tomoki in a "deep ocean". Ikaros didn't end up throwing Tomoki in the ocean though, but instead begging him to become her master again. He obliged, realizing the drastic mistake he'd made. Tomoki's head was now downcast, realizing how idiotic he was to think that removing the imprint would get Ikaros to smile, let alone laugh.

"Never again," he whispered to himself.

"What's on your mind?" asked a voice from behind Tomoki.

He whipped around to find a boy standing in front of him. He wore a black hoodie, black cargo pants, and black and white sneakers. In terms of physical appearance, he had straight black hair and brown eyes. Very similar to Tomoki.

_"He must really love black..." _Tomoki thought to himself. He then proceeded to ask, "Who are you?"

The boy stared at Tomoki for a moment, expressionless, then he answered his question.

"My name's Achos. It's nice to meet you, Tomoki Sakurai."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Sorry that I'm late with this chapter, but school is a pain in the ass.**

**Also, don't expect this chapter to be very well-written. I'm not good at writing scenes like this.**

**One last note, I may or may not post subsequent chapters everyday from February 12th-17th.**

* * *

As it turns out, Achos' plan wasn't perfect.

At Tomoki's house in the dining room, Achos nibbled on a rice ball, his hood pulled over his head. He'd already denied to remove his hood several times when asked, and it didn't look like he was going to do so anytime soon.

Tomoki, Sohara Mitsuki and Chaos stared curiously at him. Ikaros and Eishirou Sugata looked at Achos with their usual deadpan look. Nymph paid no attention to him, eating chips from a bag as she usually did. Astraea also paid no attention to him, gobbling down a rice ball. Lastly, Mikako Satsukitane looked at Achos with a sadistic open-mouthed smile, her head tilted to the side as her cheek rested against her hand.

"Quite an interesting friend you've got there, Tomoki," Mikako remarked.

"Well, I just met him, so..." Tomoki said, looking at Achos again. He had both a strained and frustrated look while he slowly ate his rice ball. One problem Achos was having was that he'd forgotten how he'd be able to deal with his angeloid ears, so his hood was the only thing covering them right now. The other problem was that he'd underestimated the time he'd be able to keep his wings flat against his back behind the hoodie (he couldn't make them invisible like Nymph, and he couldn't retract them to that point for too long). So now, he was figuring out what to do to deal with both problems.

_It seems that... I'm not completely smart, _Achos thought miserably to himself. _At this rate, I will have failed my mission faster than both Nymph and Astraea. They'll know why I'm here in 2 seconds flat._

"I hope he isn't a pervert like you," Sohara mumbled, but not loud enough for Achos to hear.

"That'd be nice," Tomoki responded with a dreamy smile on his face as he imagined all the perverted things they could do together, which earned him a karate chop on the back of his head from Sohara.

"Are you going to finish that?" Astraea asked, pointing at Achos' rice ball with a hungry look. Achos looked up at her and tossed the rice ball to her.

"Nah, you can have it," he responded, the words coming out of his mouth faster than he intended.

"Hey, is there something wrong?" Tomoki asked. "You sound nervous and you haven't taken off that hood since you put it on." If there were any pieces of the rice ball in Achos' mouth at that moment, he'd be choking on them.

"No, there's nothing wrong! Why would anything be wrong?" Achos gave a nervous chuckle, and soon Nymph took a sideways glance at him.

"The way you're talking says otherwise," Nymph said, biting on another chip. Suddenly, Achos' strained look became even more visible. He was having a _really _tough time trying not to have the wings tear through the fabric of his hoodie.

_Crap, _he thought, a few beads of sweat running down his forehead. _I can't keep them like this for much longer..._

"So, care to explain how you suddenly ran into Tomoki earlier today?" Sugata asked, placing a finger to the bridge of his glasses, propping them up against his eyes.

"By chance, I guess," Achos said, a little too quickly to qualify as a normal response.

"Like Nymph said earlier, the way you're talking is saying otherwise," Mikako said, her smile widening. "So, how did you _really _meet up with Tomoki? Were you stalking him?" Achos bit his tongue.

_Definitely not good, _he thought as he swallowed hard. "No, that's a lie! Why would there be any reason to-"

He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

_Shit, now they'll really know why I'm here. _Defeated, he decided to just let it all go. His wings tore straight through the fabric of his hoodie and became outstretched to its minimum length. Everyone with the exception of Sugata and Mikako had shocked looks on their faces, slowly beginning to process what he'd been hiding.

"So... you're a..." The realization hit Tomoki like a train, and he began to get pissed off, knowing what was coming next. Achos slowly removed his hood, revealing ears that were similar to Ikaros'.

"OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, ANOTHER ONE!?" Tomoki shouted, flipping over the dining table and nearly crushing Mikako, Nymph and Astraea in the process. Then he began a loud and incoherent ramble, frustrated that _another _angeloid arrived at his household. Nymph, meanwhile, initiated a scan, trying to determine who Achos really was. In a couple of seconds, she had a basic outline of who he was.

"Apparently, he's a Battle Class Angeloid, type Omega, Achos. Oh... so Achos is his real name..." Nymph said aloud.

Tomoki suddenly burst into laughter, earning him confused looks from others around the table (except for Mikako, who sat there staring at Achos with her usual smile).

"What's so funny, Tomoki?" Sohara asked.

"Oh, it's just that Ikaros is type Alpha... so now we have an Alpha, and an Omega."

He started laughing again, and soon Sohara and Nymph joined in. Astraea didn't seem to care, Chaos gave Tomoki a curious look, Sugata understood the reference but didn't do anything other than switch his gaze between Ikaros and Achos, and Mikako continued to smile. Ikaros, however, simply stared at Achos. The moment Nymph read his info, Ikaros didn't trust this new angeloid. There was just something odd about him that didn't sit right with her.

_I should keep an eye on him, _she thought, placing a hand to the area where her reactor was. It was in pain again, because she was thinking about the horrifying thought of Achos bringing harm to her master. Like she'd said during her first battle with Chaos, the thought hurt worse than anything.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey guys. For those of you who have read both chapters of the story, I recently removed the sequence in chapter 1 where Daedalus is with Tomoki in his "dream", since I remembered that Daedalus was living with Tomoki as of chapter 77 (thanks to FF guest Ryan). I'm now trying to decide if Daedalus should be included in the story, and if a maximum of 5 (minimum of 3) reviews or PMs (preferably PMs) ask me to include Daedalus, then I will do so. If not, then Daedalus may be mentioned throughout the story but won't get a strong supportive focus.**

**Once again, for those of you who have read both chapters of the story so far, stay tuned. I am aiming to get a chapter up every Saturday or Sunday (mostly Sunday) and it will probably be up there unless annoying schoolwork gets in the way, which it most likely will. I am also devoting all of my focus towards this story, and it will not be on hiatus at all.**

**I am now repeating myself from chapter 2, I _may or may not _post subsequent chapters everyday from February 12th-17th.**

**One last note, there are some moments in this chapter with the exception of the last paragraph that sound serious. These are actually meant to be comedic and you may want to try and envision them in Chibi mode like you would see in the anime or manga.**

* * *

On Achos' first day of school, he'd already managed to hurt someone.

The guys were playing volleyball in the gym, and during one game the ball was coming at Achos and he spiked it... _hard. _The person he'd hit had to be sent to the infirmary while Achos sat out the rest of the period. As it turns out, he was actually learning new things about himself, and one thing he learned was that he couldn't control his power very well.

"You idiot, don't you know that you could hurt someone real bad with that kind of power!?" Tomoki scolded as everyone headed back home.

"I already did," Achos countered casually, his eyes closed and his hands locked behind his head as they walked.

"You can be such an ass, Tomo," Sohara said angrily. "Achos just came here, cut him some slack! It's not like angeloids play volleyball where they live... right?" Achos nodded his head, his eyes now open.

"That's correct," he answered. Tomoki gave him a curious look.

"Geez, you're really weird," he said. "One moment you're like Nymph, the next you're like Ikaros. It's kind of scary, actually..." Suddenly he was knocked forward a couple of steps by a strike on the back of his head.

"Just stop it, Tomo!" Sohara yelled. "You're being rude!" Ikaros stared at Achos as they continued to walk. Actually, he was the only thing she was staring at. She was looking for any sign that he was going to hurt her master. _Any _sign.

"Leave him be," Achos said. "The opinion of an idiot doesn't matter, anyway." Apparently, that alone was reason enough to piss off Ikaros. She grabbed him by the head and flipped him over, slamming him headfirst into the ground. Everyone else stared in shock and horror at what she'd done. But she wasn't done yet. Her school clothes were replaced by her angeloid clothing and her wings were outstretched, glowing bright pink in color.

"Firing Artemis," she said aloud, several Artemis missiles emerging from the back of her wings. The missiles converged on Achos and met their mark, blasting him off the spot where his head was previously stuck in. He now lay face-up on the ground, his body covered in soot as he involuntarily twitched.

"Ikaros, what the hell!?" Tomoki yelled as he and the others rushed to his aid.

"I was only protecting you, Master," Ikaros said, her monotonous voice present as usual.

"Protecting me!? He didn't even touch me and you blasted him to hell!"

"Yeah, Alpha, what's gotten into you?" asked Nymph. Ikaros didn't know how to respond. However, her decision to keep a close eye on Achos remained unchanged. There was just something about him that seemed off.

* * *

Later that day, Ikaros had already fired her Artemis missiles several times whenever Achos got close to Tomoki. To try and protect Achos, Tomoki locked themselves inside of the closet in his room. However, Ikaros would not stop knocking on the door.

"Do you mind!?" yelled Tomoki. The two ended up staying there for the duration of the day, and even when they got out to stop Ikaros from knocking any more, she still fired her Artemis missiles at Achos. For the fourth time that day.

* * *

The next day in school the moment Achos walked through the gates, all the girls crowded around him and were admiring him. He flicked them off, however, viewing them to be a nuisance. Even so, that didn't stop them from following him practically everywhere he went. Meanwhile, Tomoki fumed about the male angeloid's new popularity.

"I just don't get it," he muttered. "He almost looks like me, anyway! What makes him so different?"

"Maybe it's because he isn't a pervert like you," Sohara giggled. It was true. Achos hadn't shown any signs of perversion since he arrived, not even close. With that, Tomoki's fantasies of a perverted duo with Achos disappeared. But then they quickly resurged when he had an idea to try and teach him the art of perversion, and also to get rid of his popularity.

* * *

Achos slowly strolled down a hallway in the school, hands locked behind his head as usual. A bit further down, he heard something. He turned around to see Tomoki peering out from the wall of another hallway.

"Hey. Achos. Come here for a second," he whispered. Achos curiously raised an eyebrow at him, but headed toward him anyway.

"Yeah, what is it?" Achos asked.

"Follow me. There's something I want to show you," he said, snickering in an evil manner as they walked down the hallway. After a while, they'd finally made it to Tomoki's destination. The girls' change room.

"So, what did you say you were going to show me again?" Achos asked, scanning the door's label suspiciously with his eyes.

"I didn't," Tomoki chuckled. "I wanted to make it a surprise." Quietly, Tomoki twisted the knob on the door and opened it slightly. Then he peeked inside, chuckling again as he got a good view of girls in their bra and panties. Then, suddenly, he opened the door wide enough for the girls to notice the two boys standing in the doorway. The girls screamed, while Achos stared with his mouth open.

"Well, what do you think?" Tomoki asked.

"Tomoki, how could you!?" Sohara shouted furiously.

The girls were waiting for Achos' reaction too. In a few seconds, they got it, suddenly looking scared. Tomoki noticed the looks on the girls' faces, and he turned and looked at Achos. He began to sweat nervously. A shadow had cast itself over Achos' face, his body shook and his hands were clenched into fists. His left hand didn't stay clenched forever, though.

"You bastard," Achos growled, raising his left hand to the right side of his face. "Don't you have any respect for girls!?" He then swung his arm sideways and karate chopped Tomoki in the head with such force that he bounced off of the walls in the hallway outside of the change room. A moment later, Tomoki slowly slid back towards Achos with a bump on his head. The girls simply stared at Achos for a moment, then they started cheering. Sohara was the most impressed out of all of them.

"Way to go Achos!" Sohara cheered.

He turned to the girls, gave them a simple nod and then closed the door. Even then, they were still cheering.

* * *

After school, Sohara went home and told all the angeloids about when Achos karate-chopped Tomoki. Nymph and Astraea laughed, while Ikaros stared blankly at her.

"Serves him right!" Nymph said. "That'll teach him to be a pervert!" Ikaros suddenly stood up, her Uranus Queen mode progressively activating as a white aura surrounded her, her eyes now glowing red.

"Hey, calm down, Alpha!" Nymph said, tugging on her arm. "It wasn't anything serious, right Sohara?" Nymph gave her a nervous look.

"Y-yeah! It wasn't anything serious!" Sohara agreed, startled by Ikaros' reaction. Eventually, she calmed down and her eyes went back to their green-blue color, the white aura disappearing. Everyone noticed now that there was an odd change in Ikaros' behaviour, even Astraea of all people. They also knew that Achos appeared to be the cause of it.

"Ikaros, you should relax," Sohara said softly. "I'm sure Achos wouldn't mean any harm to Tomoki."

"But he does!" Ikaros shouted, in a rare moment when her emotional control was high. "He's here to hurt my master and I'm sure of it! My reactor hurts every time I think about it... I don't want it to hurt like that!" She began to cry, and Sohara went over and rubbed her back.

"It's okay, it's okay," she soothed. "I know. Tomoki will be fine, he always is."

Unbeknownst to them, Achos was by the stairs, listening in on their conversation.

_That's right, _he thought. _I have a mission to complete. But... how am I going to do that?_

Achos _did _mean harm to Tomoki, and nobody but Ikaros was sure of it. Until the weekend.


	4. Chapter 4

On Saturday, everyone sat around the dining table eating breakfast. Like he'd been doing for the past 3 days, Achos was trying to figure out how he was going to kill Tomoki. It wasn't like he had an immediate deadline for it, but he wanted to get it over with. He didn't want to grow any sort of attachments with any of the people he was with, because he knew that would distract him from carrying out the order he was given.

_The same one that the others failed to complete, _he thought, his thoughts suddenly shifting for once. _But why...? What's so special about him that made them turn their backs on the Synapse? It just doesn't make sense. _It was love. The Angeloids' love for Tomoki stopped them from doing what they were supposed to do. But Achos never knew the word, nor experienced the feeling. If he knew the word "love" like Chaos did, perhaps he'd be curious and ask. But he never did, because he'd never heard the word. At this point, it'd be foreign to him. Just like it was to Chaos the first time she heard it from Minos. All Achos wanted now, though, was to complete the mission that was given to him. He hadn't been instructed to do anything else. Those were the only words he'd ever received in his order: "Kill Tomoki Sakurai".

"Hey, Achos. You there?" Tomoki startled Achos, snapping him out of his trance. He shook his head and looked at Tomoki.

"Yeah, what's up?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just wondering. I'm going out to a place overlooking the city when I'm done eating. Want to come with me?" Ikaros reacted immediately to the question, looking at her master with a very deep concern.

_Master, alone with Achos? _she thought. She experienced a sharp pain in her reactor when she thought about it, and fought against the urge to show it. Meanwhile, Achos struggled not to smile. He knew that this was the perfect opportunity to kill Tomoki.

_There won't be anywhere for him to run, _he thought. Then, he nodded.

"Okay, sure. Why not?" Ikaros gritted her teeth. She couldn't stand the pain. Nymph noticed this, and looked at her with concern.

"Hey Alpha, are you alright?" she asked, placing a hand on Ikaros' shoulder. It wasn't there for long though, since she suddenly stood up.

"Excuse me," Ikaros said quietly, leaving the room and walking upstairs. Nymph suddenly became aware of what was happening. Ikaros wasn't feeling comfortable with the idea of Tomoki and Achos going out. She'd been suspicious about the black-haired angeloid for almost a week now, and this wasn't making it any better for her. Nymph didn't know what to do to try and comfort her, so she remained at her seat at the dining table.

By the stairs, Ikaros pressed her hand against her chest. The pain was unbearable.

_It hurts, _she thought. _My reactor has hurt before... but it's never hurt like this... I don't want it to! _Ikaros sobbed silently, not knowing what she was going to do. She was devoted entirely to her master, and was nothing but sure that Achos was there in Sorami City to kill him. She knew she had to protect him, but she didn't know how. She didn't know how her master would react if she tried to.

_I just wish there was a way... to protect my master... _Both of Ikaros' hands were now over her mouth, suppressing the sounds of her sobbing as her tears flowed down her cheeks.

* * *

A while later, Tomoki and Achos set off for their destination. Tomoki was wearing his brown jacket as well as a pair of jeans and sneakers, while Achos was wearing the outfit he wore when he first arrived.

"Trust me, you're going to like this place," Tomoki assured. "You get a good view of the whole city, and the best part is that it's so peaceful there." Achos nodded, pretending to acknowledge Tomoki's point of view.

"I hope you're telling the truth," Achos said.

* * *

Sohara and the other Angeloids were getting worried. The moment the two boys left the house, Ikaros had not stopped pacing up and down the hallway on the second floor. They tried to get her to calm down, but it simply wasn't working.

"Ikaros, I'm sure Achos is a good guy! He wouldn't hurt Tomoki!" Sohara said. But the truth was, she was growing to be a bit suspicious of the new angeloid, too. She began to fear for the life of her childhood friend.

"No. He wants to hurt him and I'm sure of it," Ikaros countered, continuing to pace up and down aimlessly. That was when Sohara stopped trying to comfort her. With her suspicion growing, all she could do was believe that Ikaros was right. Even though Achos hadn't shown any obvious signs of hostility.

"Alpha, you need to let this go! As much as I understand the fact that you're worried about your master, you can't worry about this forever!" Nymph tried desperately to comfort Ikaros, but her attempts were failing.

"But what if Master gets hurt? Or worse?" Tears welled in her eyes again at the prospect of her master being killed by another angeloid. And there was the pain. The terrible pain that resided in her reactor whenever she thought about it. She tried not to, but she couldn't help it. She was in love with her master. She couldn't simply dismiss the possibility of Tomoki being hurt or killed and assume that he would be okay. But it hurt so badly, worse than any physical pain that she'd experienced. She just wanted it to go away. To vanish. But it wasn't that easy. Ikaros couldn't take it anymore. She _had _to find out if her master was okay. Her casual clothing was soon replaced by her angeloid clothing, and her wings became outstretched.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go and find out if my master is okay!" Ikaros said, flying straight up and crashing through the roof. The others just stared at the hole she'd created.

"Tomoki's gonna be pissed..." Nymph muttered under her breath. Like Ikaros, she'd equipped her angeloid clothing and outstretched her wings. She then elevated slightly to match with Sohara's height and grabbed her under the arms.

"Come on, Delta! We have to follow her!" she said, flying up through the hole in the roof.

"Hey, wait up!" Astraea called out, not needing to worry about her clothing (since she was already wearing her angeloid clothing) and taking off after Nymph.

* * *

Tomoki and Achos had finally reached their destination, Tomoki standing by the railing while Achos stood behind him, hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie. Tomoki took a deep breath and exhaled, sighing contently.

"Great view, isn't it?" Tomoki asked. He waited for a response. Unbeknownst to him while he was staring out at the city, Achos removed his hands from his pockets.

"Yeah..." Achos responded, his clothing suddenly being slowly replaced by his angeloid clothing. Instead of his black hoodie, pants and sneakers, he now wore a black long-sleeved fabric with white stripes on four corners around the centre that stretched out and connected on the back, black and red armor for his legs, and black and white shoulder plates. He soon detached a black hilt of a sword from his leg, and activated the sword, a long red blade ejecting from the hilt. It was very similar to Astraea's sword, the only real difference being the colors. Tomoki, hearing an electronic hum emanating from the sword, whipped around to see Achos in his angeloid form.

"But I want you to see something else before you die," Achos said, gripping his sword tightly.

_You have got to be kidding me, _Tomoki thought in annoyance as he hoped for some type of intervention.

"Meet Nemesis," Achos said, raising the sword. "This sword and I will be the last thing you see." Then, he swung it at Tomoki.


	5. Chapter 5

Tomoki covered his face with his arms, waiting for death to come and take his life. It never did. Only a second later did he feel himself being lifted off the ground, the intervention that he wished for taking place. When he removed his arms from his face and looked behind him, Ikaros was there, carrying him out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Achos stood at the lookout point, a look of disappointment crossing his face for a moment before taking off into the air, level with Tomoki and Ikaros. With that single strike, Ikaros' strong suspicions had been confirmed, and Tomoki realized that she had been right all along.

_Maybe I should have listened to her, _he thought as the two angeloids stared at each other.

"Why are you here?" Ikaros asked, a hint of anger present in her voice. Achos' deadpan expression remained the same.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, deactivating the sword and holstering it on his leg. "I'm here to kill Tomoki on orders from my master." Tomoki wasn't entirely surprised by what he was hearing.

"However," Achos continued, "I haven't actually made contact with him or her, whoever it is." Ikaros and Tomoki instantly became confused.

"But I thought angeloids receive their orders directly from their master," Tomoki said, bewildered by the concept of an angeloid receiving indirect orders from his or her master.

"That's usually the case," Achos responded, a mysterious hint of bitterness in his voice. "But for me it's different. You see, shortly after I was created, professors Daedalus and Minos suddenly decided to keep me locked away because they deemed me too powerful to be in the outside world. They were afraid that I would eventually destroy the Synapse. Why they had that fear, I don't know. But what I do know was that it wasn't until recently that I was finally awakened again, and was left with nothing but a message asking me to kill Tomoki Sakurai."

Ikaros and Tomoki were shocked. They figured that this must have happened after Tomoki used Rule to restore all the people that had died after it was used unintentionally by Sugata to essentially destroy the world in place of a new one.

"I don't fully understand what's so special about you, Tomoki," Achos said, "but I realize that you were special enough to change the mentality of the angeloids that were sent to do the same task bestowed upon me, and still are special in that sense. But I promise you this: I won't fail like the others. There isn't anything you can do to change my mind about carrying out the order I was given."

"Dream on, you bastard!" Tomoki yelled. "I might not be able to do anything to change your mind, but Ikaros is gonna kick your ass!" Achos scoffed.

"We'll see," he said, smirking in an evil manner. Ikaros, still carrying Tomoki, turned her head to look at her master.

"Master, you have to go now," she said with urgency. "If you don't, you might get hurt."

"And let you die? No way! I'm not going anywhere!"

"What can you do to protect her, Tomoki?" Achos challenged. "She's an angeloid. You're a mere downer. You're on two separate levels altogether. You can't do anything for her." Tomoki was at a loss for words. He cursed himself bitterly for his utter uselessness.

"You're wrong," Ikaros countered. "His confidence in me gives me strength. He _can _help me, and with his help, I will defeat you." Achos' expression didn't change for a while, then a smile suddenly began to pull at the corners of his lips. He chuckled, and then he laughed.

"What's so funny!?" Tomoki shouted angrily. Achos stopped laughing then, but his smile remained on his face.

"How sappy. Confidence coming from someone else will mean nothing. It will _always _mean nothing. The only person you can rely on is yourself." Achos spat the words with utter scorn, the source of it unknown to Tomoki and Ikaros. But now they were curious. He was clearly angry about something, but what? They couldn't even begin to guess.

"Nobody else can help you when you're in the outside world. Confidence is just something that you downers use to make yourselves believe you can do something. But it's only an illusion. It's always been." Ikaros could feel the sting of his words, and it was beginning to demoralize her.

"You're... wrong...!" she said, her voice trembling. She was struggling to hold on to the confidence that Tomoki had given her.

"Don't let him get to you, Ikaros!" Tomoki urged. "You can't let him get inside your head! Not now!"

"It's already too late," Achos interrupted. "Her morale is breaking. It's being shattered, piece by piece. Do you see now? Confidence is useless. As easy as it can be created, it can just as easily be broken. And right now, Ikaros is an example of that fact." Tomoki couldn't believe it. It was true; with just a few sentences, Achos crushed the hope that Ikaros had of defeating him. But Tomoki wasn't going to let that happen.

"Ikaros, you can't give up now! You're stronger than him, you can beat him! Don't let words get the better of you!" Ikaros still looked uncertain. Then, Tomoki suddenly had an idea.

"Ikaros," he began, "defeat Achos. That's an order." Ikaros suddenly snapped to attention, the words replaying in her mind like a broken record.

_Defeat Achos. That's an order._

"An order?" Ikaros asked. Tomoki smiled at her, nodding his head.

"Yes. An order." Ikaros looked at her master for a moment, before finally nodding her head.

"Acknowledged," she said, her eyes glowing red and her hair becoming ruffled as she switched on her Uranus Queen mode. The smile on Achos' face suddenly disappeared, replaced once again by his expressionless look.

_This must be why he's so special, _he thought in annoyance as Ikaros descended to the ground below and dropped Tomoki off, before rising to Achos' level again.

"So, you're choosing to force my hand," Achos muttered, gripping the hilt of Nemesis and detaching it from the holster on his leg, activating the sword. He also outstretched his left hand, a pentagonal shield suddenly being created out of nowhere. Ikaros continued to glare at Achos as he did this.

"You're the Alpha... and I'm the Omega," he said. "You're the beginning... and I'm the end."

And with that, both angeloids accelerated at full speed towards each other.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Sorry for the part where Ikaros does a complete scan of Achos, but I thought I had to give you guys a clear picture of his abilities at some point. I also apologize for the way the fighting in this chapter is written, as I'm not the best at writing scenes like this. And I _also _apologize for the way I described Ikaros in Pandora mode, as it may not be accurate.**

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In the time that Ikaros was looking at Achos while he was preparing for battle, she had an idea about how she might have been able to fight him.

_I should perform a scan of his system, _she thought. _But I need to keep him away from me while I do so._

"You're the Alpha... and I'm the Omega. You're the beginning... and I'm the end." After saying this, Achos flew at full speed towards Ikaros. She did the same, planning to evade him when he got close. Her plan worked, narrowly avoiding Achos as he slashed at her with his sword. Now Achos, who had now stopped, was a fair distance away from Ikaros as she had hoped would happen.

"Initiating scan," she said aloud, flying backward and distancing herself from Achos even further. "Battle Class Angeloid, type Omega, Achos. Battle capabilities are high. Processing capabilities are medium. Emotional control is high." Achos was once again flying towards Ikaros, and was getting closer to her in a short amount of time. He slashed at her again, and she'd managed to avoid the strike again.

"Possesses the same abilities as types Alpha, Beta, and Delta," she finished, now thinking to herself.

_I have to find a weakness in him, and use it to my advantage. But that is going to be difficult when he possesses the same abilities as us... _She then went on to scan the sword and shield Achos was using.

"Scanning," she said aloud. "Weapon identified as Nemesis. A sword that is similar in design to Chrysaor, and has slightly less power. Object identified as Paramone. A shield that provides considerable protection to the user." Achos eventually caught on to what Ikaros was doing.

"Ah, so you're getting to know me better, eh?" he asked. "Trying to find a weakness within me? You won't find one. Not when I have the same abilities as you, Nymph and Astraea. You don't stand a chance here. Not on your own." Ikaros refused to believe it. Not while she heard her master's words echo in her mind.

_Defeat Achos. That's an order._

"My master ordered me to defeat you," Ikaros said. "So I will!"

"Your master, eh?" Achos challenged. "He should think first before he speaks. He really is an idiot." Ikaros' wings suddenly glowed bright blue in color.

"Firing Artemis," she said aloud, the missiles heading towards Achos.

"Activating Aegis," he said aloud, a large dome force field surrounding him. The missiles all collided into the shield, failing to hit their target. Achos lowered his Aegis shield, and realized that Ikaros was no longer in front of him. He turned behind him just in time to see Ikaros flying towards him, a fist raised by her head. She managed to successfully connect the blow with Achos' face, and he was sent backwards in the air. He'd managed to stop himself, and looked at Ikaros with a smile on his face.

"Impressive," he said as he deactivated Nemesis and Paramone. "But you still won't beat me." Ikaros charged forward again, throwing another punch at Achos. However, he'd managed to block it and counter the attack, landing a blow to Ikaros' stomach and sending her backward. Achos wasn't finished there, though, as he then activated Paramone and bashed Ikaros full on with the pentagon-shaped shield. Ikaros was unable to regain control of herself, and crash-landed into a nearby field. Achos descended towards the ground and walked slowly towards her.

"How disappointing," he muttered to himself. "I was expecting a real challenge from the Uranus Queen. I guess I was wrong to do so." Ikaros was on all fours right now, struggling to get up.

"This fighting..." she groaned, "is pointless... Please stop... you won't accomplish anything here!" Achos stopped walking, giving her a curious look.

"So then... are you trying to run away from this fight because you know you'll be beaten, or are you unwilling to fight?" he asked. "It's your master, isn't it? He must have made you soft."

"You won't defeat me," Ikaros said, suddenly up on her feet and a fist pulled back. "You _can't _defeat me!" She launched an uppercut at Achos, sending him skyward. He managed to stop himself from spinning and hovered in the air, Ikaros already flying towards him. She waited until she was level with Achos before hitting him again, knocking him back. When he managed to straighten up, he gave Ikaros an angry look, suddenly creating a cannon from nowhere. Ikaros immediately performed a scan of it.

"Scanning. Weapon identified as Tycho. A powerful cannon with three different modes. The beam mode will potentially destroy its target if overcharged, but has the potential to critically damage the user." As if to demonstrate the weapon's power, Achos aimed it at Ikaros and fired it at her, a single projectile racing towards her. Ikaros flew upward as the projectile came close to impacting her. However, she hadn't escaped it yet, as suddenly the large yellow orb split into several small orbs that now raced toward her.

_What!? _Ikaros thought in surprise as the projectiles got too close for her to use her Aegis shield. One by one, they all hit her, knocking her out of the sky. Achos chuckled to himself.

_She never saw it coming, _he thought as he saw Ikaros crash towards the ground again. _Maybe we should take a break from fighting in the sky. _Once again, Achos slowly descended towards the ground, but didn't make any move. He patiently waited for the weak Ikaros to get up, a significant amount of damage already done to her system.

"I don't want to kill you, Ikaros," Achos called out. "Just stay out of my way. My orders were to kill Tomoki, not you. But I'll kill you if I have to." Ikaros wasn't about to give up so easily. Oh no, she was far from that. She wasn't going to allow for Achos to hurt her master.

"You're not... going to touch him!" Ikaros yelled, a white aura suddenly surrounding her. "You're not going to touch my master! I will not let you or _anybody _hurt the master that I love so much!" Ikaros' appearance was then altered: there was no longer anything covering her legs (although her skirt still remained there), her shoulder plates became longer to the point where they went down to her ankles and hovered by her shoulders, the black outlines on her clothing disappeared, her hair became loose and free and her yellow halo turned pink in color. Ikaros had turned on her Pandora mode. Achos was actually surprised by the sudden transformation, but he recognized what it was.

"Ah, the Pandora Self-Evolution Program," he said aloud. "Upgrades the user and repairs any damage done to their system. Now this should be interesting." Ikaros, now on her feet, turned towards Achos and activated two powerful cannons that hovered by her sides.

"Firing Hephastos Mark Two," she said aloud, two powerful beams of energy being fired from both cannons.

"Damn it," Achos cursed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to use Aegis against the cannons. As fast as he could, he accelerated upward, narrowly avoiding the blasts of energy from the cannons. If not for his hyper acceleration wings, he would have been hit by the blast and a massive amount of damage would have been inflicted upon his system. The cannons disappeared from Ikaros' sides, and soon she chased after the hovering Achos. He activated Paramone just in time to block a punch delivered by Ikaros, shoving her arm aside and landing a blow to her face. However, she was able to withstand it more now, and didn't move from her spot. She countered with another punch, but Achos blocked that one with his free arm and flew away from Ikaros. Still not moving from her spot, she fired her Artemis missiles at Achos. He turned back and, realizing that the missiles were too close to him to activate his Aegis, placed Paramone in front of him.

"Activating Aegis-L," he said aloud, activating a portable version of Aegis, an ability that originally belonged to Astraea. A small dome shield appeared in front of Paramone, and was able to block all of the Artemis missiles that came his way. Had he not used Aegis-L and only used Paramone, the shield might not have been able to withstand the projectiles and Achos would have been hurt. As much as he hated to admit it, he had gotten lucky. And much to his slight annoyance, Ikaros didn't stop her assault. However, he liked the challenge he was getting out of it.

_Now the fight really begins, _he thought to himself as he activated Nemesis and accelerated towards Ikaros again.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: One small detail, I changed the amount of modes Achos' cannon (Tycho) has from 4 to 3. You'll see that I've made that small edit in the previous chapter.**

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Ikaros managed to land another successful hit, delivering a blow to Achos' face and catching him off guard. He attempted to strike Ikaros with Nemesis, but he missed and she distanced herself from him. Achos charged at her again, swinging his sword and missing as Ikaros evaded the strike. She tried to move in to hit him, but he turned around and bashed her with his shield for the second time. This caught Ikaros off guard, and gave Achos some time to deactivate both Paramone and Nemesis in order to fight with his fists. He punched her several times in different areas, until she blocked one of them and flew away from him.

"Don't you run from me!" Achos called after her, accelerating at full speed in pursuit of Ikaros. He activated Tycho and fired the cannon at her, a single projectile now racing towards her. She managed to avoid it, and luckily it didn't get separated into multiple projectiles as she'd expected would happen. Achos fired again, and this time Ikaros stopped herself so that she could activate her Aegis shield, the non-homing missile exploding as it made contact with the large shield. Seeing that her Aegis was still up, Achos deactivated Tycho and activated Nemesis. He continued to speed towards Ikaros until finally, the edge of his sword met with the shield and cut through it. After realizing what had happened, Ikaros narrowly avoided being struck by the sword and put some distance between her and Achos. He came to a full stop and turned towards Ikaros, deactivating Nemesis.

"You can't run forever, Ikaros!" he said. "This is all going to end today." Then, Achos activated Tycho again and fired it at her. Ikaros didn't know if the projectile was going to be separated or if it was going to remain the way it was, so she didn't activate Aegis in the case that the projectile retained its singular form. However, it didn't, and it split into several homing missiles. Ikaros decided to counter it with Artemis.

"Firing Artemis Mark Two," she said, several homing missiles of her own emerging from the back of her wings. The Artemis missiles successfully managed to take out Achos', but when the smoke cleared, he was already racing toward her. He delivered a strong punch to Ikaros' face, and soon she crash-landed into the ground below. Achos descended directly down to where she was, and stood there as she leaned on her side to get up.

"I'm sorry, but this is where it ends," Achos said, activating Nemesis and raising it by his head. "Goodbye, Ikaros." Before he could swing the sword though, he heard something behind him. He turned to see Astraea racing towards him, crying out as she prepared to strike him with Chrysaor. Achos activated Paramone just in time for the shield to meet with Astraea's blade, but it cut through and got stuck inside the shield, the tip of the blade inches away from Achos' face. He pulled the shield back to dislodge the sword, and flew away from Astraea. He knew that he wasn't going to be able to fight her in close-quarter combat, so he kept his distance from her. He also spotted Nymph arriving at the scene, both her and Astraea rushing to Ikaros' side.

"Alpha! Are you alright!?" Nymph asked worriedly. Ikaros, still lying on the ground on her side, nodded.

"I'm fine. Thank you." Nymph had a look of regret on her face.

"I guess you were right. Omega really _is _a bad guy. Sorry that we doubted you, Alpha," Nymph said. "Sit tight, Delta and I will hold him off and give you some time to recover." Ikaros nodded again, and Nymph and Astraea soon set off after Achos. However, they didn't engage in combat immediately.

"Omega, it doesn't have to be this way!" Nymph pleaded. "There's still time to do what's right!" Achos' expression remained neutral.

"What's right? I didn't think angeloids did what was right," he responded. "I thought they only follow their master's orders without question."

"You don't have to!" Nymph countered. "You can make your own decisions!" Achos legitimately considered this for a second.

_My... own decisions? _he thought, wondering what that would be like. But that was too difficult, him being an angeloid, and decided to tuck the thought away for the moment.

"I don't want to make my own decisions," he said quietly. Which was a complete lie. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was just that he didn't know _how _to. He wondered if Nymph started out by having a difficult time living a life without following orders. Unbeknownst to him, she did, but she got used to it as time passed.

"I just want to follow my master's orders." That was also a lie. After that, he charged forward at both angeloids, whom he separated after slashing at them with his sword. Astraea returned to strike with her own sword, and Achos quickly activated Aegis-L, barely blocking the strike. He slashed upward at Astraea, making her fly backward to avoid it.

"Delta, get out of the way!" Nymph yelled, and Astraea did so, knowing what was coming next.

"Paradise Song!" Nymph shouted, a large rainbow-colored energy beam being fired from out of her mouth. Achos accelerated to the left and barely avoided the beam. Astraea came back to strike at him again, but this time he saw it coming, deactivating Nemesis and Paramone and shifting his body a bit to the left as to avoid Chrysaor. He then landed an uppercut under Astraea's chin, sending her spinning backward. Meanwhile, Nymph flew toward Achos, prepared to land a blow. She tried to punch him, but he blocked it and landed a punch of his own to the side of Nymph's face, following up with another to her stomach. As she was pushed backward, Achos suddenly felt strange. He was momentarily distracted, placing a hand to his reactor. Unbeknownst to him, he was experiencing the feeling of guilt.

_What... what is this!? _he thought, trying to understand what he was feeling. Then, suddenly, he heard Astraea yelling again, moving in to strike him. He accelerated to the side, narrowly avoiding Chrysaor. Now Nymph and Astraea were hovering side by side, looking at Achos.

"Think about what you're doing!" Nymph said. "Do you really think you'll accomplish anything if you destroy us?" Achos remained silent for a moment, thinking to himself with his head downcast. Then, he looked back up at the two angeloids.

"I don't know what I'll accomplish out of destroying the 3 of you, or killing Tomoki Sakurai," he responded. "But orders are orders." Nymph could understand where he was coming from. For a while, she desperately tried to get Tomoki to become her master, finding it difficult to live a live without orders. She could understand him perfectly.

"I understand," she said quietly. "I guess we're just going to have to take you down." Achos didn't look so menacing anymore, and Nymph and Astraea could see that. He looked lost and confused, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. Then suddenly, that look disappeared from his face and his emotionless look replaced it. He activated Nemesis and Paramone, and charged towards the two angeloids with a shout. The two once again separated, and Astraea flew back in to strike Achos. This time he was as aggressive as before, blocking the strike with the shield and then hitting Astraea with it, sending her backward. Nymph took this time to charge at Achos, and placed a hand to his head.

"Commence hacking procedures!" she said aloud, beginning to hack Achos' systems. For the time being, he was immobilized, unable to do anything as Nymph hacked his system. While doing so, she'd managed to temporarily disable his ability to activate Aegis, Aegis-L, and Artemis. Immediately after Nymph had finished hacking him, Achos punched her in the face with his left hand after deactivating Paramone, sending her skyrocketing towards the ground in a field. Then he chased after her, enraged about what she had done. Achos, now on the ground with Nymph who was lying face-down, grabbed her head and pulled it up.

"You shouldn't have done that," Achos growled angrily as he raised his sword and prepared to stab her.

"No," she groaned weakly, "_you _shouldn't have done that." Knowing she was referring to the punch, Achos turned behind him to see Astraea racing toward him, an look of intense anger on her face. Achos ducked down, then yelled in pain as he felt Chrysaor slice the top of his shoulder. He deactivated Nemesis and clutched his bleeding shoulder, backing away from a smirking Nymph. Astraea switched directions and flew at Achos again, prepared to strike him again. However, this time he accelerated into the air before she got to him, and he activated Tycho, firing it at her. Astraea turned around, and lifted her shield to her face. However, she didn't activate Aegis-L in time and the projectile knocked her backwards, and she lay face-down on the ground. Achos descended back towards the ground, standing between both Nymph and Astraea.

"Delta!" Nymph cried out, struggling to get up. However, she stopped as Achos aimed Tycho at her.

"Don't move," he said in a monotonous voice that he'd only spoken in once before. Then, as he continued, he spoke normally. "I'm not here to kill you, Ikaros, or Astraea. I'm here to kill Tomoki. Just stay out of my way."

"Stop it, _RIGHT NOW!_" Achos turned around to see Ikaros standing with Tomoki. He lowered Tycho and deactivated it. Then the two boys stared at each other, each with an intent much more different than the other.

_I wonder what he'll say now, _Achos thought to himself, listening to what Tomoki had to say.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: This will be the second-last subsequent chapter before I go back to uploading one every week. The fight ends tomorrow.**

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"Just stop!" Tomoki pleaded. "This is wrong! You shouldn't be doing this!" Achos gave him a surprised look.

_Him too? _he thought to himself. _But... what meaning does the word "right" have for an angeloid? How could the others know that? _The look quickly disappeared from his face just as fast as it came.

"I can't do what's right because I don't know what's right," Achos responded quietly, a hint of regret in his voice. "All I can do is follow my master's orders. The only order I was given and will ever get." Tomoki was surprised by what he had heard. Even though Achos had mentioned that he hadn't made direct contact with his unknown master, he never mentioned that he didn't even have a constant link to him.

"I'm not bound by a chain, right now," he said, "but I _am _bound by this order. At least until I've carried it out." Tomoki gritted his teeth in frustration. He'd already said this before, and it was getting annoying having to say it again.

"You don't have to follow that order! You can make your own decisions! Even if you completed that order, you'd be free either way! So what's the problem in disobeying your master's orders!?"

"Firstly, I'd prefer living to complete only _one _order than live the rest of my life without one," Achos responded. "And secondly, I don't understand what it's like to be free and to be able to make my own choices. That would be a difficult life to live."

"You think you're the only one?" Tomoki asked. "Nymph was in the same situation as you. But eventually, she learned to decide for herself! You can do the same!" Nymph blushed lightly as Tomoki said this. Achos gritted his teeth in a sudden rush of anger.

"I give up. Do you want to know why I haven't stopped hurting those 3 yet? I'll tell you why. For so long, I was locked up because the people of the Synapse were afraid of me. Afraid of my power. I tried to convince them that I could control it, but even my creators feared my power. My _creators, _damn it!" Achos yelled. His tone was not just filled with anger, however. It also had a bit of sadness and pain in it, and Tomoki and the angeloids could sense it.

"It was so painful... knowing they rejected me... even the very people who created me... But now, I have a chance to share my pain. I want others to feel it as well. I don't want to be alone with that pain anymore!" Tomoki gave him a look of pity. Achos caught it, and didn't like it.

"Don't... don't look at me like that!" Achos yelled. "Don't look at me like you feel sorry for me!"

"I _do _feel sorry for you," Tomoki said.

"You're just a downer," Achos hissed. "I don't deserve your compassion!"

"You do, actually," Tomoki countered. "Human or angeloid, it's all the same. You deserve compassion from others. Maybe then you won't feel so alone. Maybe you won't want to hurt others anymore." Achos gave him a look of surprise, taking this into careful consideration.

"It doesn't have to be this way," Tomoki said. "You don't have to suffer anymore. No one does." Achos couldn't believe he was being pitied by a human. He just couldn't believe it. The words bounced around his head again.

_You don't have to suffer anymore. No one does. _Achos didn't know what to do. He didn't know what he was supposed to do anymore. He was just so confused. Nothing made sense anymore, not the way it used to. He fought back tears as he thought about this, beginning to wish that he wasn't created in the first place.

"I wish I could understand it," Achos said quietly. "I wish I could understand what it's like to live a life without a master. Maybe then the choice would be easier." Achos wiped a sleeve of his outfit across his face, drying the unshed tears in his eyes. His first tears. "But I don't. Which is why, regrettably, I'm choosing to continue to follow my master's orders." Tomoki looked at him for a moment, shifted his gaze between the other three angeloids before returning it back to Achos, then nodded his head.

"I understand," he said. "I guess the others will just have to convince you by force." Tomoki stepped away from Ikaros, who reactivated her Pandora mode. Nymph and Astraea followed her lead, switching on their Pandora modes as well. Both of their outfits went through a significant change (especially Astraea's), and Astraea's sword went through two upgrades (since she has a level 2 Pandora mode). Now, any damage done to the 3 angeloids' systems was repaired, and they were ready for battle once more.

"Go get him guys," Tomoki urged, and Ikaros ascended into the sky a short distance before Nymph and Astraea joined her at either side. Achos flew upward as well, level with them in the air.

"I see now why Tomoki Sakurai is so special," Achos said, his tone completely void of the malice it previously carried. "I wish it was just a bit more easier for him to convince me not to try and complete my mission."

"We'll _make_ it easier," Nymph countered. "We're not going to stop until your mind is changed, for Tomoki's sake."

"You won't be able to," Achos responded. "You're just going to have to kill me." Ikaros stared at him, thinking about what he had just said.

_Master... wouldn't be happy if I killed Achos, would he? _she thought. _I don't want to displease him... In that case, we shouldn't kill him. _She didn't get a chance to voice her opinion to the other angeloids, however, as Achos suddenly accelerated towards them at full speed. Ikaros, Nymph and Astraea separated themselves from each other, and prepared for battle.

The final fight was beginning.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Here's the final subsequent chapter I'm posting before going back to posting one every week. Hope you enjoy. (A fitting conclusion, isn't it? And no, I'm not talking about the story as a whole)**

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Achos headed straight for Ikaros, slashing at her with Nemesis. Unlike previous times, she evaded the strike with ease, moving around him almost as if she had teleported.

"It could have been different!" Achos said with anger, anger that was directed at himself. He barely blocked a strike that Astraea delivered with his shield and countered with his own sword, forcing her to distance herself from him.

"I could have listened to Tomoki, if only I understood what it truly means to be free!" He charged after Astraea, who accelerated to the side and evaded his strike.

"You don't have to!" Nymph countered. "There's still time! We don't have to do this!"

"Yes, we do. I don't have a choice. This order is keeping me tied down the way gravity would tie us down if we didn't have wings, and if I want things to continue to make sense, I have to let it keep me down." Achos blocked a punch Ikaros tried to deliver, and thrust his sword forward, forcing Ikaros to fly back in order to avoid being stabbed.

"You just don't get it, do you!?" Nymph said, enraged. "You don't have to understand freedom from the beginning! You'll learn to make your own decisions as time passes! But I guess it isn't sinking in, so we're just going to have to take you out!" She tilted her head back and took a deep breath.

"Paradise Song!" she yelled, the energy beam coming out of her mouth and heading right towards Achos. Ikaros, Astraea and Achos cleared the way, as the Paradise Song passed by all of them and failed to hit its mark. Achos charged at Nymph, his sword out in front. Before he could get close to her, however, he was suddenly knocked sideways by Ikaros in a sudden intervention. After spinning for a bit, he managed to regain control of himself and stay upright, but he was soon knocked backward again by a punch Ikaros delivered to his chest. Achos deactivated Nemesis and Paramone just as she delivered another strike, and countered it with a punch to her face. He then flew away, only to see Astraea block his path. She swung the now long-bladed Chrysaor at him, and he barely evaded the sword, accelerating backward a bit. Achos then flew past her towards the ground, stopping when he was as high above the ground as a power line. He was quickly confronted by Ikaros, who got close to him before firing her Artemis missiles.

"Firing Artemis Mark Two," she said aloud, firing the laser-like missiles.

_Shit, I forgot to undo the hacking! _Achos thought worriedly, flying away from the fast-travelling missiles as he begun the process. In a few seconds, he was done, and was now able to activate the abilities that Nymph had previously disabled.

"Activating Aegis," Achos said aloud, the shield being deployed just in time to protect him from the missiles that hadn't stopped following him. When he deactivated Aegis and the smoke cleared, he saw Ikaros charging straight at him, landing a blow to his face that sent him backward a far distance. Actually, he wasn't able to control himself and he crash-landed in the middle of a street. He slowly got up, weakened by the hit, and when he did, he saw that Ikaros was headed straight for him again.

_This is bad, _he thought to himself, taking off and heading for the field with the old cherry-blossom. Ikaros, Nymph and Astraea followed in pursuit of him.

When Achos got to the field, he stopped and turned behind him, seeing the other 3 angeloids. He activated Tycho and pointed it at them.

"Try this on for size!" he yelled, firing the cannon. The projectile that came out of it was separated into several homing missiles. The only question that remained now was which angeloid the missiles would follow.

"Scatter!" Nymph yelled, and all of them flew off in separate directions. Nymph currently being the closest to them, the missiles decided to follow her, and she had nowhere to run.

_Crap! _she thought, knowing she had nothing to protect herself with. Suddenly, Astraea got in front of her and lifted up her shield.

"Activating Aegis-L!" she said aloud, the missiles all colliding into the shield. Nymph breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Delta. I owe you one," she said. Astraea gave her a smirk. However, the moment didn't last forever, as they soon noticed Ikaros fighting Achos, both of them using their bare hands.

"Come on, we have to help her!" Nymph urged, flying off. Astraea nodded, taking off after her.

Meanwhile, farther away from the two, Achos was landing punch after punch at Ikaros, who was getting tired very quickly after blocking so many of them. However, before he could land another, Nymph punched him in the side of the face, and made him spin off to the side. When he regained his control, Ikaros was already up in his face, beginning an assault of her own. She began to land several successful consecutive punches at a normal pace, then her speed began to increase to the point where Achos had absolutely no chance of blocking any of them. Finally, she delivered one last punch that almost instantly made him crash-land into the field below. The three angeloids remained in the air, Nymph and Astraea awe-struck at what they just witnessed. They all stared at the crash-site, waiting for the large amount of smoke to subside. When it did, they saw Achos lying on the ground, twitching as he tried to get up. Nymph did a scan of his system from where she was.

"System is 92% damaged. Condition is critical," Nymph said aloud. She turned to Ikaros. "Alpha... you almost killed him," she said quietly. Ikaros was soon self-conscious of what she did, and was shocked at herself.

_I almost... killed him? _she thought in surprise. _Master... _She wondered how her master would have reacted if he had been there to witness what had happened. The three angeloids descended to ground level inside of the large crater, walking slowly to the twitching Achos. When they got close, they stopped and watched him there, feeling sorry for him. Eventually, he stopped trying to get up, now slumped on the ground. He slowly turned his head with great effort, seeing the 3 angeloids look at him with pity. After a moment of silence, Achos spoke.

"Just finish me off," he said weakly. "It's not like... I have much of a purpose, anyway... I was just given one order by a master who I don't even know..." Tears began to well in his eyes, and they slid slowly down his cheeks. The first tears he'd ever shed. The three angeloids continued to stare at Achos, and they all deactivated their Pandora modes, Astraea deactivating her sword. Ikaros took several steps toward him, then bent down in front of him. She reached for him, and placed a hand on his head. Then, suddenly, she started rubbing it back and forth. Achos was completely surprised by the sudden gesture.

"But... why?" he asked her. She didn't answer for a moment.

"Master wouldn't want me to kill you," she said quietly. "He would still think of you as a friend."

"She's right," said a voice, and everyone turned to see Tomoki walking towards them. "Even though you did try to kill us... you're still our friend here." More tears slid down Achos' cheeks. But these were tears of joy.

"Thank you..." he said quietly, a genuine smile forming on his lips. His first smile. "Thank you so much." Tomoki smiled back at him. Achos' attention then turned back to Ikaros, who patted his head a bit more before standing back up. Suddenly, he felt something strange within his reactor.

_What is this feeling? _he thought to himself, staring at his chest in curiosity. _I've... never felt this before... what could it be? _Tomoki then interrupted his thoughts.

"Come on. Let's go home. All of you guys should get some rest," Tomoki said, turning and heading off. Ikaros looked at her master for a moment, before she looked back at Achos and offered him a hand. He gladly accepted it, taking it and pulling himself up.

"Can you walk?" she asked, standing by his side. However, her question was quickly answered as Achos fell forward, still very weak from the damage he suffered. Ikaros caught him in time and draped his arm over her neck, flying forward a short distance before walking by Tomoki's side with Achos over her shoulder. Nymph and Astraea joined them, and they all walked home together.

It was quite a rough day for the angeloids.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hey guys.**

**Due to some encouragement from others (shout-out to FF member Jackthebean and FF guest Dude 101), I'm going to put a large amount of effort into posting chapters daily. School is a pain in the ass, however, and will make it difficult for me to do so. Regardless, I will now post new chapters as soon as I can. But be warned: because of this, the story will most likely come to an end much faster. But there will still be plenty of chapters on the way.****  
**

**By the way, in chapter 6 I changed another thing about Tycho (Achos' cannon). If overcharged, the cannon will no longer have the potentiality to destroy the user, but will instead have the potentiality to critically damage the user.**

* * *

Nine days after the battle between the 4 angeloids, things were progressing regularly, and any suspicions that the other 3 angeloids had about Achos were lifted. He was beginning to adjust properly to life on Earth, and was also learning to make his own choices. He'd become much less hostile and had become good friends with Tomoki, Nymph, and Sohara. He had gotten along the best with Nymph, so they considered each other best friends. Everything seemed to be going fine.

However, there was one problem.

Ikaros was no longer suspicious of Achos, but the fact that both of them had a similar quiet demeanor at times made it difficult for them to establish a connection between each other. Not only that, but Achos' reactor was beginning to feel strange whenever he was near her. He didn't know what the feeling was or why it was happening, he didn't know if any of the other angeloids had experienced the feeling (which they all did), and he hadn't talked to anybody about it.

One day, exactly two weeks after the battle, Achos sat next to Ikaros at the dining table during lunch, and his reactor felt strange again. Occasionally he would glance at her, and the feeling would intensify temporarily. Tomoki eventually noticed that Achos was looking a bit uncomfortable.

"Hey, Achos. You alright?" he asked. Achos snapped out of his trance and looked at Tomoki, nodding his head.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you," he answered, looking back down at the table.

_Maybe I should talk to him about it... _he thought. Ikaros had already talked to Sohara about it before, and now the same thing would happen between Achos and Tomoki. However, it would be much more different than the girls' talk. After lunch, Achos confronted Tomoki and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. Can I talk to you for a second?" Achos asked. Tomoki looked curious for a moment.

"Sure. Why not?" Tomoki asked. "Let's go to my room." The two headed upstairs and went into his room, Tomoki closing the door behind him. Achos, as usual, spotted Tomoki's pile of porn magazines and gave it a disgusted look (unlike the first time he saw it and karate-chopped Tomoki repeatedly like Sohara). Tomoki walked over by the window, turned and sat down on his knees.

"Take a seat," Tomoki said, and Achos sat the same way as Tomoki.

"So what's on your mind?" he asked, wondering what Achos wanted to talk about. Achos didn't respond for a moment, looking down at the floor in thought, then he looked up at Tomoki.

"It's about Ikaros," he answered. Tomoki gave a surprised look, but continued to listen. "I don't understand it, but for some reason whenever I get close to her or talk to her, even for the briefest moment, I feel something strange in my reactor. When I look at her, sometimes it feels as if it's going to explode. Do you think you know why this has been happening?" Tomoki glanced awkwardly to the side, scratching his head.

"I'm not sure," he responded, still averting his gaze from Achos. "I haven't felt the same way when I'm around anybody in particular... but I think you might be in love with her." Achos gave him a curious look, then looked down at the carpet.

"Love," he said, trying the word out. "Is... that what this feeling is? Love? Wait... what is love?" Tomoki was given a rather uncomfortable reminder of Chaos, who initially misinterpreted love, believing it to be pain.

"To be honest," Tomoki said, "I don't know what love is either. But if I were to try and describe it, it's when you have deep feelings for someone else." Achos thought about this for a moment.

_I'm... in love with her? _he thought. He was so unfamiliar with the word and the feeling associated with it. He didn't think angeloids could have feelings like this.

"Maybe you should tell her how you feel," Tomoki suggested, and Achos immediately looked at Tomoki, a deep red blush coloring his cheeks. He quickly shook his head.

"No, I'd rather not," he said. Tomoki smiled.

"Don't worry, I was just kidding. Look, if you need any help, just come talk to me, okay?" Tomoki said. Achos stared at the floor for a moment, then nodded, looking at Tomoki.

"Okay," he said quietly. He then stood up and left. Tomoki had a look of sadness on his face as he left.

_Poor guy, _he thought. _He doesn't know that Ikaros is already in love with me... _However, Achos _did _know that she was in love with him. He just wasn't conscious of it.

Unbeknownst to both Tomoki and Achos, Nymph was standing right outside the room, listening in on the conversation with her P-Stealth System turned on. She looked at the floor as she leaned against the wall, deep in thought.

_So, Omega is in love with Alpha, huh? _she thought. _Maybe she should know about how he feels... maybe they could get closer to each other, even if they aren't actually together..._

Nymph then went downstairs, turning off her P-Stealth System as she reached the hallway.

* * *

Later that day, Achos leaned against a wall, thinking about the conversation he and Tomoki had earlier.

_Look, if you need any help, just come talk to me, okay? _Achos smiled to himself as he remembered those words.

_He's such a kind person, _he thought to himself.

"You don't need them," a voice suddenly said in a whisper. Achos looked around, wondering who was there.

"Who said that?" he asked, turning his head in every direction. He heard the voice again, but it didn't answer his question.

"You don't need any of them," it said, repeating itself. Achos then stopped looking around, and decided to ignore the voice, heading towards the door. But suddenly, he was stopped in his tracks when he saw an image in his head. An image that disturbed him. There was a face staring at him, with two violet eyes and a jagged mouth that was also violet on the inside and was twisted into a sadistic smile, every other area in black.

"You have a mission," the voice said, its tone darkening. "COMPLETE IT." Achos placed a hand to his head and stepped back, feeling a bad pain and hearing a static buzzing in his head. The pain worsened by the second, and soon Achos screamed, collapsing onto his knees with both hands over his head. A moment later, Tomoki, Sohara and the angeloids rushed into the room.

"Achos! What's going on?" Tomoki asked, leaning over to see Achos' face. He continued to grip his head with both hands.

"My head," he groaned. "I don't know what's going on but... I heard a voice in my head... and then I saw something..."

"Saw what?" Tomoki urged. Achos suddenly let out a yell, and fell forwards on his hands, breathing heavily. The pain had come to an end, and so had the static buzzing. Nymph then initiated a scan of his system.

"Initiating scan," he said aloud, scanning for any signs of a fault within Achos' system. A moment later, she finished.

"Is he alright?" Tomoki asked. Nymph turned to him, looking uncertain.

"I haven't detected anything wrong with his system," she said to him. "I'm not sure what's wrong with it. It could have been something temporary."

"Do you think it could happen again?" Achos asked. Nymph then turned to him and nodded.

"Possibly. In that case, you need to let me know the moment you experience the slightest bit of pain," she said. "If I can get a chance to scan your system while you're experiencing the pain, I might be able to determine what's going on in your system."

"Okay," Achos nodded. With that, everyone left the room.

_Just what was that? _Achos wondered as he followed the others out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Sorry that I couldn't post a chapter yesterday. I had a busy night.**

**Also, I apologize if Hiyori is out of character during the brief appearance she makes in this chapter.**

* * *

A day afterward, Tomoki, Ikaros and Achos were in the Town Square out shopping. Tomoki had to send Ikaros out to shop very often since Astraea's hunger never seemed to be satisfied, and now Tomoki figured that if he and Achos went out with Ikaros, it would be easier for her and figured it would be a chance to teach Achos more about the outside world.

"Okay, so have we got everything?" Tomoki asked at one point during the trip, a bag in each hand as he turned to look at his angeloid companions. Achos returned his look and nodded.

"I believe so," he answered. Ikaros neither said or did anything.

"Alright. Let's-" Suddenly Tomoki was cut off.

"Hey guys!" The three of them turned their attention to the feminine voice in front of them. They realized that standing before them a short distance away was Hiyori Kazane, a human-turned angeloid. Tomoki looked a bit nervous as the blue-haired girl shyly waved at them.

"I wasn't expecting to see you guys here." Hiyori then looked at Achos. "Oh, I don't think we've met!" She walked up to him and held out her hand for him to shake. "My name's Hiyori Kazane." Achos raised an eyebrow for a moment, not sure what to do with the hand Hiyori held out in front of her.

"Uh... my name's Achos," he said, still staring at the hand. Hiyori noticed Achos' puzzled look, then laughed.

"So you're new here, huh? Don't worry. You're supposed to shake my hand." Achos slowly took Hiyori's hand, and shook it. Much to Tomoki's surprise, Achos didn't shake her hand to the point where he was repeatedly slamming her into the ground. He figured he was teaching himself how to control his power. Tomoki had confidence in the fact that Achos would be able to do so.

"Hey, why don't we go eat together?" Hiyori asked.

"Sure, why not?" Tomoki said. And with that, the four were soon off.

* * *

The four were soon eating at tables under umbrellas that shaded them from the sun. Tomoki and Hiyori were sitting at one table, while Ikaros and Achos sat at a table adjacent to them. Tomoki put this arrangement together purposely, to try and get the two angeloids to talk to each other more. The arrangement didn't really make things good for the two of them, however. While Tomoki and Hiyori conversed, the two angeloids' reactors were acting up. Ikaros placed a hand over her chest as she looked at the two of them, an action which Achos noticed. After a bit of hesitance, he spoke to her.

"Is there something wrong with your reactor?" he asked, snapping Ikaros out of her trance, making her blush slightly and quickly withdraw her hand from her chest. She seemed like she was hesitating as she looked at the table for a moment, then she looked up at Achos and shook her head.

"No," she replied, "but it feels strange." Achos nodded.

"I'm feeling the same thing too," he said, and Ikaros gave him a surprised look. However, she didn't bother asking him about it.

"I don't really understand why I feel this way sometimes," she said, "but I believe it has something to do with love." Achos looked down at the table, remembering the word.

"Love..." he murmured, trying the word out again. The feeling within his reactor grew, and he placed his hand on his chest, just as Ikaros had done moments earlier.

"You're... in love with him, right? With Tomoki?" he asked. Ikaros looked away and didn't answer. Achos had a look of sadness on his face, and then, he suddenly felt a strange pain in his reactor.

"Commencing system scan," he said aloud, looking down at the hand on his chest. Ikaros turned to him in curiosity. "No damage detected. No abnormalities in organic structure. No abnormalities in reactor. All green."

"Is there... something wrong, Achos?" Ikaros asked. He looked up at her, and shook his head.

"No. Thank you for your concern," he said. He looked back down at his chest, realizing his hand was still pressed over it.

_What was that? _he thought. _For a moment I felt pain in my reactor... but why?_ He didn't understand why he felt pain in his to him, Ikaros was still looking at Achos. He soon noticed this, and gave her a strained smile.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing," he said. "Just a bit of pain in my reactor is all." Ikaros continued to stare at him for a moment, then she nodded, looking down at the table in thought.

_Maybe... he's in love... with me? _Ikaros couldn't believe that it was possible that Achos was in love with her. However, she considered the possibility and continued to eat.

* * *

After the four of them had finished eating and Hiyori had said goodbye, Achos was back home in Tomoki's room, leaning against a wall with his arms by his sides. He thought about when Ikaros was looking at her master talk with Hiyori, and suddenly the pain returned. And it wouldn't go away. He placed a hand to his chest again.

_The scan said there was nothing wrong with my reactor, but... there must be something wrong with it, _he thought. _It hurts... it really hurts... _Tears of sadness welled in his eyes, and he swiped an arm across them, drying his tears.

"I told you, you don't need them." It was the voice again, speaking to Achos. He widened his eyes in surprise for a moment, then placed a hand to his head.

"Get out of my head," he said, bracing for the pain.

"All they bring you is pain and sadness. Your home is in the Synapse, and Tomoki Sakurai is your enemy," the voice said, its tone dark. "Either complete your mission, or return to the Synapse!"

"Never!" Achos yelled. There was silence for a moment.

"Have it your way," the voice snarled, and the pain soon set in, along with the flickering image and the static buzzing. Achos screamed, falling forward on his knees and then on his side, curled up into a ball as he convulsed in pain. It was a while before Nymph barged in, a look of concern on her face as she saw Achos.

"Omega! Hang on!" she said, getting on her knees and placing a hand over his head. "Initiating scan!" Achos continued to convulse, grunting in pain.

"Okay, done!" Nymph said. However, Achos still hadn't stopped twitching, and yelled in agony.

"Omega!?" Nymph asked worriedly.

"Make it stop!" Achos yelled. "Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!" As if his request had been heard, the pain left him, and he slumped against the floor, on the verge of unconsciousness.

"Omega, are you okay?" Nymph asked, shaking her friend. Achos groaned, and sat up with a considerable amount of effort.

"For now," he said. "So do you know what just happened?" Nymph's eyes were downcast as she delivered some bad news.

"There's a virus that's corrupting your system," she said. "But I don't know where it's coming from."

"Can it be removed?" Achos asked, and Nymph shook her head.

"It comes and goes at unexpected times. There won't be any way to get rid of it completely unless it does so on its own," she responded. Achos looked at the floor in thought for a moment. Then he looked up at Nymph.

"Do you think..." he said, "that someone's attacking me?" Nymph looked up at him in surprise, then looked back down at the floor.

"It's possible," she answered quietly. "But I hope that's not the case..." The two sat there in silence, now wondering who it could have been that was attacking Achos.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Once again, I apologize that I couldn't post up a chapter yesterday.**

* * *

At night on the same day, Nymph sat on the roof of Tomoki's house, gazing up at the moon above in the sky as she usually did.

_I'm so confused, _she thought to herself, placing her hand over her chest. _Tomoki and Omega are both nice guys, but... I'm closer to Omega than I am to Tomoki... I couldn't even ask him a simple question... _Nymph was first involved in a "love hexagon", but now she was involved in a love triangle as well, between herself, Tomoki, and Achos. Now her reactor felt odd whenever she was around both Tomoki and Achos, and she couldn't understand why. She was beginning to believe that she was beginning to have feelings for both of them, even though she initially thought that she was only in love with Tomoki. It would make sense, though; he and Nymph talked occasionally and Tomoki showed acts of generosity towards her, but Achos and Nymph talked to each other often and spent a lot of time together.

* * *

_One day, Nymph had been watching an episode of her soap opera in the living room while occasionally eating chips from a bag (as usual). Achos just happened to pass by, and after watching a bit of the episode, he sat by Nymph's side. As soon as he sat down, she turned her head toward him curiously._

_"So, what are you watching?" Achos asked. Nymph turned her head back towards the television screen._

_"Soap opera," she answered, taking another chip out of a bag and taking a bite out of it. Once she finished chewing and swallowing, she said, "They're really dramatic shows that people down here watch."_

_"Okay then..." Achos said, turning his attention to the TV screen. When the episode was finished a while later, he had an intrigued look on his face._

_"You're right," he said. "That really was dramatic." Nymph giggled._

_"That won't be the only one showing up," she said. It was from that day onward that Achos began to watch soap operas with Nymph. This was something they often did together._

* * *

Suddenly Nymph remembered something as she thought about Achos.

_I don't understand it, but for some reason whenever I get close to her or talk to her, even for the briefest moment, I feel something strange in my reactor. When I look at her, sometimes it feels as if it's going to explode, _he had said during a conversation with Tomoki a day earlier.

_Oh yeah, _she thought. _He's in love with Alpha._ _I should go talk to her about it... _With that, Nymph got up off the roof and went inside.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ikaros was sitting on her knees, quietly watching her master as he slept with an open-mouthed smile.

_I wonder what Master dreams about, _she thought. Suddenly, the door opened and standing behind the entrance was Nymph. Ikaros turned her head toward her.

"Greetings, Nymph," she said.

"Hey Alpha," she responded, briefly looking at Tomoki before looking back at Ikaros. "Do you mind if we talked for a moment?" she asked.

"Sure," Ikaros answered, but she didn't move from her spot. Nymph sighed heavily, closing the door behind her.

_I guess it's okay that we can talk here since Tomoki is asleep, _Nymph thought, sitting down on her knees as Ikaros shifted herself to face her.

"What is it that you wish to talk about, Nymph?" Ikaros asked. Nymph was hesitant for a moment before deciding to tell Ikaros what was on her mind.

"Yesterday, I heard Tomoki and Omega talking to each other," she explained. "Omega told Tomoki that whenever he's around you, his reactor starts acting strange, and that sometimes it feels like it will explode. In short, I think he's in love with you, Alpha." For a moment, Ikaros looked surprised.

_Just as I thought, _she thought to herself, looking at her master. _But... Master... _She then looked back at Nymph.

"What should I do, Nymph?" Ikaros asked. Nymph looked at the floor for a moment, then she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm no expert," she answered, "but you should try giving Omega a chance. For starters, you should try talking to him a bit more. You two barely talk to each other. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe you two should go out on a date. It's not like we have school this week anyway." Ikaros looked down in thought, and Nymph did the same shortly afterwards.

_I could just have Omega to myself, since we're such close friends, _Nymph thought. _But maybe things could work out between him and Alpha. _Nymph then looked back up at Ikaros.

"Should I tell Tomoki about this tomorrow?" Nymph asked. Ikaros was snapped out of her trance, and after a moment of thought, she nodded her head.

"Alright," she said, granting Nymph permission to do so.

"Okay, so it's settled," Nymph said. "You two will be going out on a date tomorrow. Try not to think too much about Tomoki while you are." Ikaros nodded again, this time with a bit of uncertainty, and turned back towards her master. Nymph then stood up and left.

_I wonder what Tomoki will say when I tell him about Alpha and Omega tomorrow, _she thought. She stopped for a moment in the hallway, and giggled to herself, remembering the reference Tomoki made the first day Achos arrived.

_Oh, it's just that Ikaros is type Alpha... so now we have an Alpha, and an Omega, _he had said. She continued to smile as she walked down the stairs.

_Tomoki can be so silly sometimes, _she thought to herself as she exited the house and went back to her spot up on the roof. Meanwhile in Tomoki's room, Ikaros thought about what would be happening the next day.

_A date... with Achos? _she thought uneasily as she lovingly looked at her master. _I hope... that Master doesn't mind... _And for the rest of the night, she continued to quietly watch her master and kept hoping that same thing.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Hey guys. As I have said time and time again, I apologize that I couldn't get this up sooner and had to make you wait for a LONG time. I spent quite a bit of time working on this particular chapter since I didn't have much overall time on my schedule to do so. Actually, since I realized that I've made you wait so long, I decided to shorten this chapter and put in the rest in the next chapter.**

**Before I let you guys read this chapter, I just want to say that I genuinely thank you for your support, even though it may seem a bit early for me to do so. It is very much appreciated, even though it may not seem like it. Once again, thank you to all of you; readers, reviewers, and followers alike. Thank you.**

* * *

The next morning when Tomoki woke up, he noticed Nymph sitting by his bedside. Sleepily, he looked around and noticed that Ikaros was mysteriously absent from his room. He curiously looked back at Nymph, now slightly awake.

"Hey Nymph, where's Ikaros?" he asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"Alpha's downstairs preparing breakfast with Omega," Nymph answered. Tomoki looked surprised.

"With Achos? Huh. That's new..." Tomoki said. Nymph awkwardly cleared her throat afterward.

"So, Alpha and I had a talk last night," she said. "Since we now know that Omega is in love with her-"

"Wait a second," Tomoki interrupted. "Were you spying on me and Achos while we were talking?"

"I was just listening in, no big deal," Nymph said casually. "Anyway, Alpha and I have decided that she and Omega should go out on a date today to see if they can get closer together. You know, since they barely talk to each other and all." Tomoki looked down in thought. Then he smiled to himself.

"You know," he said, now looking back at Nymph, "that's a pretty good idea. Maybe that'll get rid of some of the tension between those two. I'll give them some money if Achos says yes."

* * *

Downstairs, Ikaros and Achos had finished making breakfast and were setting it out on plates for everyone in the dining room. When they were finished, Achos had already taken a seat, but didn't start eating and waited for the others to show up. Ikaros stood in front of the kitchen counter, staring at Achos. She figured that it was a suitable time for her to ask him out on a date, but she was having quite a bit of trouble doing so. Whenever she tried, her mouth stayed closed and her thoughts wandered back to the smiling face of her master. Achos eventually noticed Ikaros' downcast head, and turned his attention to her.

"Hey. Is something wrong?" Achos asked. Ikaros looked up at him from across the room, and a light blush colored her cheeks as she shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. I was just wondering if... um..." She had great difficulty in saying the words.

_Why can't I say it...? _Ikaros thought to herself.

"You were wondering if what?" Achos asked, now wondering what it was that Ikaros wanted to say.

"Would you like to... go out on..." Achos raised an eyebrow curiously.

"A date...?" Ikaros finished. Achos tilted his head, narrowing his eyes.

"What's a date?" he asked curiously. Ikaros momentarily recounted the time that she, her master and Nymph went out on a date before answering Achos' question.

"It's when a boy and a girl go out," she explained rather awkwardly. Achos looked up in thought, and scratched his head.

_Strange... _he thought. _I thought she was in love with Tomoki... but either way, how can I say no? _Achos looked back at Ikaros and nodded.

"Alright, sure," he said. Subsequently, Tomoki and Nymph headed down the hallway towards the kitchen, having listened in on the conversation between the two angeloids.

"Hey guys," Tomoki said with a happy kind of voice. "I just heard that you two are going out on a date! Congratulations!" Achos gave Tomoki a deadly glare, a purple aura similar to Sohara's surrounding him before he stood up and clenched his fists.

"You were listening to us? You bastard!" Achos yelled angrily, walking over to Tomoki. He prepared to strike him, who had curled up into a ball in fear, until Sohara showed up.

"Hey guys? Is everything okay over here?" she asked, peering curiously from the entrance way leading to the dining room. The purple aura around Achos disappeared and he turned to face her.

"Yeah. Nothing to worry about," he responded. He could hear Tomoki let out a sigh of relief, and elbowed him in the face, letting him know he hadn't gotten off that easily.

"When can we start eating?" came a loud voice from the dining room. "I'm starving!" Nobody needed to check and see who it was that was yelling. They all knew it was Astraea. Sohara disappeared from the entrance way, and the other 3 angeloids and Tomoki headed over to the dining table. Already there were not only Sohara and Astraea, but also Chaos and Daedalus. As he took a seat at the dining table, Achos stared intently at his mother, who eventually looked up at him and gave him a small as well as nervous smile.

"Hello, Achos," she said quietly. Achos didn't smile, only simply nodded.

"Hello, Daedalus," he responded. Everyone looked at the two quietly. Ever since the battle that had ensued a bit over 2 weeks ago, they were aware of the tension between the two after learning about Achos' past. It had gotten a bit better, but it hadn't disappeared completely. Everyone ate breakfast quietly, not a word being exchanged between anyone.

* * *

Shortly after breakfast, Ikaros and Achos were dressed and ready to go. Ikaros wore a yellow, sleeveless shirt, a white hoodie with a blue hood, blue shorts and a pair of sandals. Meanwhile, Achos went with the same outfit he wore when he met Tomoki: a black hoodie (with a red T-shirt underneath), black cargo pants and black and white sneakers. Both of them had a magazine with a guide to dating tucked under their arms (the same ones Ikaros, Nymph and Tomoki used on their date) and were prepared to leave, until Tomoki stopped them.

"Hey! Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked, handing out bundles of money to both angeloids. "You can't go out on a date if you don't have any money to spend." The two briefly examined the money in their hands.

"Well, hope you guys have fun!" Tomoki said, waving and retreating back into the dining room. The two angeloids stood silently for a moment, before Achos made the first move and opened the door.

"I guess we should go now," Achos said. Ikaros nodded and headed outside, Achos following her and closing the door behind him.


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Behold, my longest chapter yet. At least, for now.**

**Also, sorry to say guys, but try not to expect daily chapters anymore. However, I will try to get up a chapter everyday until March 17th.**

* * *

It wasn't long before the two angeloids were in the city, preparing to start off their date. Ikaros had an idea of what to do, having been on one before and making this one a routine, but Achos had absolutely no clue, which made the magazine of significant use to the male angeloid.

"Okay, let's see..." Achos said to himself, flipping open the magazine. "Shopping, huh...? Alright, let's see what we can buy."

The two soon went to a nearby shopping centre... where Ikaros bought a cart-full of watermelons. And more. Achos simply stared in awe at the amount of watermelons she bought.

"Wow... you must really love watermelons..." he muttered as he spotted a DVD store. He decided to take a look around inside, and soon came out with a cart-full (and more) of his own... filled with various movie DVDs. Everyone nearby stared in shock at the two angeloids and their carts. Neither one of them seemed to mind, however. Then Achos thought of something.

"Um... Ikaros?" he asked.

"Huh?" Ikaros responded curiously.

"Um... where are we gonna keep the carts? It's not like we can exactly carry them all around town with us..." Ikaros suddenly looked crestfallen, then nodded at Achos, deciding that they should take them to Tomoki's house. When they came back with the carts, both of them were smacked over the head by Tomoki with a rolled-up newspaper, who didn't explain why he did so.

Not long after, they were back in the city and at the "Doremi Cinemas" movie theatre. At Ikaros' request, they decided to watch a movie that she once suggested to Tomoki called "Watermelonman: The Movie" (which seemed to bear a resemblance to the "Power Rangers"). Ikaros paid absolutely no attention to the action or the plot of the movie. Instead, as expected, her attention was entirely focused on the Power Ranger-like characters with watermelon-like heads. On the other hand, Achos paid attention to what Ikaros wasn't, but diverted most of it towards the action sequences.

After that, they headed to the amusement park, where they took a ride on a roller coaster. Unlike some people onboard, heights weren't a problem for either of the two, considering that they'd been in the air countless times. Achos tried to enjoy it, but Ikaros showed no signs of either enjoyment or boredom. It was usually hard to tell what was on her mind because of her lack of any facial expression.

After a couple more rides, the two took a break and sat on a bench, neither speaking a word to the other. In fact, throughout the entire date, in every place they had been to so far, not many words were exchanged between each other. The whole point of this date was to try and get the two to talk to each other, but so far it didn't seem like it was working. Ikaros simply didn't know what to say. Achos, however, was afraid.

Achos had been afraid the whole time. Afraid of what Ikaros thought of him.

_I'm nothing but a weapon, _he thought to himself, recalling horrifying memories of what had happened over 2 weeks ago. Bashing Ikaros with the shield and damaging her extensively throughout the battle. Hurting Nymph. Blasting Astraea with Tycho. Every time he thought about it he felt more guilty than anyone could imagine. He never thought that he could be so hostile, so cruel, so unforgiving. And one angeloid, and one human, undid that all. In an instant his personality changed, no longer wishing to hurt those around him. Yet he still lived with the fear that people, especially Ikaros, thought of him as a monster. Today, though, he decided to come out with his feelings.

"I'm afraid, you know?" he said quietly.

Ikaros turned her head towards Achos and asked in a curious manner, "What?" Achos took a deep breath and continued.

"I've become afraid. And confused, as well. I was left with one order from a master whom I don't even know. Now I'm free of that burden. But, now I'm not sure what to do. More specifically, why I exist. I don't know what I'm supposed to accomplish anymore." Ikaros pondered this for a moment, then looked up at him.

"What are you afraid of?" she asked. Achos suddenly looked at her, then looked down at his hand, which now gripped the bench lightly.

"Myself." Ikaros looked at him in confusion. Achos sighed again, and explained.

"I don't know what I was created for, but I know that I'm a weapon. A weapon that can cause a lot of harm to others if I'm not careful. Now that I realize what I'm able to do, I'm scared of my power. I don't want to hurt anyone else anymore." Ikaros continued to stare at him intently, then nodded. Achos continued to stare at the ground. Then, suddenly, he felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder. He looked up to see Ikaros still looking at him with her arm outstretched.

"It's okay," she said quietly, softly. "You don't have to be afraid anymore." Achos stared at her in shock. He couldn't believe that she said those words. He couldn't believe that Ikaros was practically forgiving him for what he'd done. Achos suddenly felt as if his reactor was trying to burst out of his chest. Steam puffed out of his ears a few times. Ikaros tilted her head at him curiously, her hand still on his shoulder. Then, his vision became obscured.

"Reactor reaching critical overheat," Achos said aloud. "Unable to identify the cause. Initiating temporary shut-down." With that, his eyes closed and he slumped against the chest of a surprised Ikaros, who then wrapped an arm around his neck and slowly stroked his black hair, turning her gaze from him and simply staring ahead of her at nothing in particular.

_He doesn't know that I know he's in love with me, _she contemplated, now unconsciously stroking Achos' hair. _Should I tell him the truth...? Master told me that lying was a bad thing... _She couldn't help herself. Nymph had asked Ikaros to try not to think too much about Tomoki during her and Achos' date, a request she took literally, but it had to happen at some point. She was in love with him, and tried never to turn a blind eye to him. There was no way she couldn't think about him.

* * *

"Commencing initialization. Restarting." Achos woke up slowly, dark brown eyes meeting an orange sky. He felt something behind his neck and head. An arm and a hand. He moaned and turned his head to the side, his eyes now meeting Ikaros' green-blue eyes, which turned to him suddenly and glinted in the sunlight.

"What happened...?" Achos asked, sitting up. He looked around and realized they were no longer in the city. Taking a moment to take in his surroundings, he realized they were at the field with the cherry blossom, the massive tree just behind them. Ikaros was now sitting against it, her knees tucked into her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Achos adopted the same position as Ikaros explained what happened.

"Your reactor almost overheated. Your system entered a temporary shut-down, so I decided to take you here." Achos looked at her for a moment, then nodded, looking up at the orange sky that indicated that the sun was going down.

"The sky looks beautiful, doesn't it?" he asked Ikaros. She simply nodded in agreement, contemplating the same thing she did earlier in the day at the theme park. After a long moment of silence, the pink-haired angeloid turned to face Achos.

"Achos, can I... tell you something?" she asked. Achos turned his head towards her.

"Sure. What is it?" he responded. Ikaros looked back down at the grass in front of her, hesitating slightly.

"I..." she began, "already knew that... you were... in love with me." Achos immediately widened his eyes in shock, his face turning a deep shade of crimson.

"W-What?" he stammered in embarrassment. Ikaros closed her eyes.

"I first began to suspect that you were in love with me that day we ate with Master and Hiyori. Then Nymph came to me last night while I was watching over my master. That was when she confirmed my suspicions." Achos' eyes were no longer wide as he simply looked intently at Ikaros.

"I'm sorry," she said, regret in her voice, "but I deeply care for my master, and I wish to be by his side." She had nothing more to add than that, and Achos then looked at the ground so that Ikaros couldn't see the hurt in his eyes. However, that didn't do much as his reactor began to hurt. Now forgetting about Ikaros' presence, he pressed a hand against his chest.

_My reactor... it's hurting again, _he thought. _It's aching... _Ikaros had a look of sorrow on her face. She didn't mean to hurt him so much. She only thought that she was simply telling the truth.

"I understand," he responded suddenly. Ikaros looked at him in surprise.

"What?" she said in confusion. Achos then turned his head towards Ikaros, and smiled forcibly.

"I can see that you're very devoted to your master... You already expressed that when we fought. I'm honestly telling you that I respect your choice. You two seem very good together, anyway." Ikaros looked at the ground for a moment, as did Achos, who continued to smile. Suddenly, once again, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at Ikaros, his smile replaced by a look of curiosity as he noticed that Ikaros' eyes were closed... and she was leaning forward. Her lips very suddenly met his in a soft kiss that Achos had never saw coming. However, he soon relaxed and kissed back. Unbeknownst to him, Ikaros was kissing him as a means of comforting him as opposed to doing it out of a mutual feeling of love. After a while, the two separated, taking small breaths of air. Achos looked at Ikaros with confusion in his eyes, but she looked away from him, instead looking down at the ground in a sudden embarrassment with a light blush coloring her cheeks. There was a long moment of silence, a good minute or two, before Achos finally broke it.

"Should we head back?" he asked. Ikaros looked up at Achos for a moment, then nodded.

"Sure," she said. With that, the two were off to Tomoki's house.

* * *

When the two angeloids returned, already waiting outside were Tomoki, Sohara, Nymph, and Astraea. They waved and greeted the two as they descended onto the ground.

"Hey guys!" Sohara said. "How was your date?" A small smile crept up onto Achos' lips, but the others didn't seem to notice.

"It was good," he replied. Ikaros nodded in agreement, but didn't say a word.

"Good to hear!" Tomoki said cheerfully. "Come on, let's go inside." Everyone followed after Tomoki, except for Ikaros, who stopped after taking two steps. She thought back to the kiss, and was beginning to regret her decision. She felt that she betrayed her master, and wondered if she should tell him about what happened.

"Hey! Ikaros!" Tomoki called out, waiting at the doorway and snapping Ikaros out of her trance. "Aren't you coming inside?"

A blush made its way to Ikaros' cheeks as she replied, "Yes, Master."

Ikaros then headed inside, Tomoki closing the door behind them. It was the end of another day in Sorami City.


	15. Chapter 15

Three days had passed since Ikaros and Achos' date, and Tomoki, Sohara and the other angeloids were aware that something was wrong. The two angeloids had not spoken much to anyone so far, and they were completely clueless as to why. When asked about it, both angeloids denied that anything was wrong. From time to time, Tomoki and the others urged them to say what was on their minds, but they constantly denied to do so. This particular day didn't seem like it was going to be any different from the others.

After breakfast, Ikaros was in the kitchen washing the dishes when Tomoki suddenly approached her.

"Hey Ikaros," he said, startling the pink-haired angeloid and almost making her drop the plate in her hand as she turned to see who it was. The features on her face relaxed as she realized that it was only her master.

"Greetings, Master," she said in response. Tomoki paused for a moment, sighing through his nose before carrying on.

"Listen, I know you don't really feel comfortable talking about this," he said, "but can you please tell me what happened during your date with Achos? Maybe I can help you out or something." Ikaros looked down at the floor with a look of sadness that confused Tomoki.

"I am sorry," she murmured, "but that is something I cannot tell you."

"Ikaros, please," he begged. "I need to know what's wrong." Ikaros provided Tomoki with no response. But he was particularly stubborn today, and he suddenly knew just how to find out what was discomforting Ikaros so much.

"Ikaros, tell me what happened on your date with Achos. That's an order," he stated firmly. Ikaros widened her eyes in shock at her master, then her sad expression returned as she looked back down at the floor.

"I..." Ikaros hesitated, feeling tears well in her eyes as she tried to suppress an incoming sob. But she couldn't hide it, and her breath was shaky as she inhaled deeply through her mouth.

"I kissed Achos during our date," she said, her voice trembling. Tomoki stared at her, blinking twice.

"Huh?" he said after a short moment of silence.

"I've betrayed you, Master. And I've betrayed myself," she sobbed. "I love you... so much... I kissed Achos to comfort him, but in doing so I've betrayed the feelings I have for you. I'm so sorry..." And there she stood in front of the sink, her face in her hands as she sobbed almost uncontrollably. Tomoki sighed. He walked over to her and patted her head.

"Don't cry, Ikaros," he soothed. "You haven't betrayed anyone by kissing him. But you probably shouldn't have kissed him if that was your intention. If he knew the truth, it would probably hurt him. That aside, though, it doesn't really matter to me." Suddenly, Ikaros wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace. Surprised at first, Tomoki relaxed and wrapped his own arms around his angeloid.

"Master..." she cried into Tomoki's shoulder.

"It's okay, Ikaros. It's okay," he said, rubbing his hand back and forth along Ikaros' back.

_Man, she's really difficult to deal with, _Tomoki thought to himself as he continued to hold her.

* * *

Sometime later, Nymph decided to take a look at one of the many DVDs that Achos had bought. She didn't particularly like the action, but she found herself rather engaged in the premise of the movie. As she took a chip from a bag and took a bite out of it, guns could be heard going off.

"These parts can be so boring," Nymph mumbled to herself after finishing her chip, when she suddenly heard a loud scream. At first she thought it came from the movie, until she paid more attention and realized that the voice belonged to Achos. She dropped the bag of chips and dashed upstairs. Achos was turned on his side, curled up into a ball as he convulsed violently with Tomoki and Ikaros on either side, Astraea and Sohara soon arriving.

"It's happening again!" Tomoki shouted. "Nymph, help him!" The blue-haired angeloid quickly arrived by Achos' side and unhooked a wire from a robotic ear, plugging it into Achos' right one.

"Searching for any system compromisers," she said aloud, her eyes closed and two fingers pressed to her ear as if talking with someone through an earpiece. "Foreign virus detected. Initiating removal proce-" Nymph was suddenly cut off and she screamed, pressing her hands against the sides of her head in pain. Achos, however, had stopped convulsing and lay limply on his side.

"Nymph!?" Tomoki exclaimed worriedly. Unbeknownst to him, the voice and image were now in Nymph's head as the virus had made an occupation transition.

"Worthless piece of scrap," the voice hissed. "I should kill you right now." As Nymph bent down and continued to scream with her forehead pressed against the floor, Achos weakly turned to lay on his back, pressing two fingers against the ear with the plug inside of it.

"Searching for any system compromisers. Foreign virus detected. Initiating removal process." He went through the same steps Nymph had gone through a moment earlier. After a while, Nymph's pain had begun to recede as she stopped twitching as much and pressed her hands weakly against the floor.

"Virus removed," Achos finished, and Nymph slumped against the ground, her head turned to the side as she breathed heavily. The last traces of his energy gone, Achos fell unconscious as his system entered a temporary shut-down.

"Omega," Nymph breathed as she tried to reach out to him.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Astraea asked, looking at Ikaros. She shook her head doubtfully.

"I don't know," she responded quietly. There was a long moment of deathly silence as everyone took in the situation that unfolded before them. They were beginning to figure that this wasn't just a random attack, and that someone was targeting Achos.

However, the next attack happened within the same day. And Achos wasn't the victim.

* * *

Nymph continued to watch the movie she was previously watching in the dining room, while Astraea was awkwardly draped over the table.

"Man, I'm starving!" Astraea whined.

"Keep it down, Delta," Nymph said irritably. "I'm trying to watch my movie." Then, in a smaller voice she said, "Well, it's actually Achos' movie, but I decided to watch it." Astraea couldn't take it anymore and stole a chip from Nymph's bag, sitting up so she could swallow the chip pieces in her mouth.

"Hey! These are mine, hands off!" Nymph exclaimed, hugging the bag close to her.

"Aw, come on!" Astraea said, returning to her previous position on the table. "Don't be so me-" Astraea stopped mid-sentence and sat up, grunting as she placed a hand against the side of her head. Nymph turned to Astraea, beginning to get worried.

"Delta?" she asked as the blonde angeloid suddenly began to scream.

"Not you too!" Nymph exclaimed as she hooked a wire to Astraea's ear.

"Don't worry, it'll be over in a sec!" Nymph then attempted to remove the virus, but she soon realized that something was blocking the connection from her to Astraea.

_What kind of a virus is this!? _Nymph thought in horror as she tried desperately to re-establish the connection. To see her "little sister" suffer the way she was in that moment was too painful to watch. As she then managed to remove the blockage, Nymph then proceeded to removing the virus in Astraea's system. It only took a few seconds before Astraea stopped convulsing, and lay limply on the table.

"Delta, are you alright?" Nymph asked quietly as she gently shook Astraea. She opened her eyes slowly, turning to look at Nymph.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks," she responded. Nymph smiled at her for a moment, but then her expression turned serious.

"Now we know that this isn't some random attack," Nymph said, releasing her hold on Astraea.

"What do you mean, Nymph?" she asked. Nymph was silent before she said:

"Someone isn't targeting just Achos, but targeting all of us angeloids here with Tomoki."


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Spoiler warning for those who haven't read chapters 74, 75, and 77 in the manga.**

**I was originally going to have this posted the day before, but I didn't have time to finish it in one night.**

* * *

Later that same day, the angeloids figured that the issue of the virus should be further investigated as to come up with some answers, so they visited Sugata at his riverside home. They found him inside his tent, fixing up a wheel on his bike.

"Hey Sugata," Nymph greeted with a wave. Sugata turned towards her, his face void of any expression.

"Hello Nymph," he responded as he turned his attention back to the wheel on his bike. Nymph paused for a moment before speaking.

"Um, Sugata, recently us angeloids have been attacked by a virus of some sort, and we were wondering if we could ask for your help in determining the cause. Do you think you think you could check out the Synapse and find out what's going on?" Sugata abruptly stopped working on his bicycle, his head downcast in thought as he remembered something he didn't like to think about.

* * *

_"I beg you, Tomoki..." Sugata had said while crying over his cell phone up in the Synapse, on the verge of death as he slowly bled out from a hand-sized wound in his chest caused by an Ikaros Melan. _

_"Please... Stop my dream...!" Then, nothing more was said as Sugata disconnected from the call and died moments later._

* * *

After the flashback in his head ended, Sugata continued to work on his bike.

"Sorry, I can't help you," he said regretfully. With the exception of Achos, the angeloids looked momentarily surprised before having looks of understanding on their faces.

"That's alright," Nymph said. "Thanks, Sugata!" With that, the angeloids ascended into the sky and headed home. As they flew, again with the exception of Achos, the angeloids remembered their own deaths that occurred when Rule was activated.

* * *

_Astraea thought about the promise Tomoki made her and Nymph keep before they set off for the Synapse._

_"Promise me... you'll come back alive!" Sadly, Astraea knew that she couldn't keep her promise. Not while her younger sister was dying right before her eyes, all alone. She wasn't going to let her be alone anymore._

_"I'm... sorry..." Astraea said silently as she reached out and hugged a surprised Chaos._

_"Astraea...?" she asked in bewilderment._

_"I'll go with you..." Astraea responded. "I'll be afraid with you... because I'm... your big sister... right?" She then distanced herself from Chaos, hands on her shoulders as she looked at her with loving eyes._

_"You aren't alone... got it?" Astraea asked, waiting for Chaos' confirmation as she took her into her embrace again._

_"Yeah," Chaos responded as she relaxed into her big sister's embrace. As their time was coming to an end, they had one last conversation._

_"Hey... Astraea..." Chaos began. "What... is love...?"_

_"Hmm..." Astraea responded. "I don't really know... because I'm not smart..." The two angeloids were literally being shattered, drifting away into the air in pieces._

_"So... this time... let's go ask him together..." Astraea finished, just as Chaos vanished completely. She thought again about the promise. About Tomoki._

_"I'm... sorry..." she whispered. "I... love you..." With her dying breath, Astraea repeated the words._

_"I... love you..." Then, Astraea vanished into thin air._

* * *

_Meanwhile, in the Synapse, Nymph had just finished the imprinting process with Minos, and was laughing maniacally._

_"Beta...?" Minos asked cautiously. It was then that Nymph's laughing had come to an end._

_"I see..." she said to herself. "So that's how... the self-destruct code is set up, huh..." The mechanism inside Nymph's collar was now slowly ticking away as Minos stared at her in shock._

_Tick, tick._

_"Do you remember... the bomb that you planted in me...?" Nymph asked Minos with tears in her eyes, the hate in her voice beginning to rise._

_Tick, tick._

_"Stop it... Stop it, Beta..." Minos pleaded._

_"Of course you remember, don't you...?!" she hissed. "But it's not that same bomb anymore...!"_

_"Beta! Stop it!" Minos shouted. Nymph now had a finger pointed very close to her collar._

_Tick, tick, tick._

_"With my evolved hacking ability, I changed it to a much more powerful one before I came here...!" Nymph said with pride, knowing the tables had finally been turned. "It's powerful enough to destroy the core of Zeus without a trace...!"_

_After suffering so much abuse from her master, it was finally going to end here._

_"And I'm..." Nymph said, inching her finger ever closer to her collar, "taking you with me!"_

_"BETA!" Minos screamed, reaching out for her as several Ikaros Melans dashed toward her in an attempt to prevent her from detonating the bomb._

_"Too slow!" Nymph shouted, pressing her finger to her collar. It was done. She had set off the bomb._

_You are... way too late... Nymph thought, a less sinister smile now gracing her face as she begun to shatter and fade. An Ikaros Melan had activated her Aegis shield near Minos, who tried to reach Nymph._

_"Please come back to me...! Beta...!" Minos cried out._

_You're too late... But I'm at peace, Nymph thought. _

_When I come back... I have to ask Tomoki to become my master... but... it doesn't look like I can come back...__ she continued to think. Then she had an idea._

_Then... I'll ask him in my next life... But then, suddenly, Nymph remembered something._

_"There's this thing called monogamy..." Tomoki had said while Nymph was watching him peek at a couple who were getting intimate with each other. "A marriage has to be between one man and one woman..."_

_One man... can only be united with one woman, one person... Nymph thought. Then, she had a look of sadness as she thought about Ikaros. After that, she thought about the times she had when she was close to Tomoki. That was when she smiled._

_Ah... I see... she continued in her thoughts._

_It can only be... one person... Nymph continued to fade away, piece by piece._

_"BETA!" Minos screamed again. Meanwhile, down on the surface, Tomoki and Ikaros witnessed a distant explosion from the black hole leading to the Synapse. Ikaros pressed two fingers to her ear, looking for Nymph's signal. She didn't find it._

* * *

_Shortly afterward, Ikaros was carrying Tomoki to the Synapse per his request. However, as she got close to it, her body became ablaze due to her core having been switched to a self-destruct type. By now, Tomoki had already told her to turn back several times, but Ikaros refused to. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't; most of the surface below them was already gone._

_"Turn back already... Please..." Tomoki pleaded softly as tears flowed down his cheeks. "I'm begging you..." Ikaros simply looked at her master, then sighed._

_"I've been here for so long, now..." she said. "Ever since the day that you took me in, Master..." Tomoki could do nothing but stare at her in surprise._

_"Every day... every second of every minute, I was happy..." she continued, memories flooding into her head. "When you told me not to act like a weapon... or when you told me that it was okay that I was originally meant to be a weapon... when you became angry over me taking a bullet to protect you... and when you removed my imprinting and gave me the right to live freely... I was... happy." It was then that Ikaros began to shatter._

_"No! Don't do this, Ikaros... Turn back...!" Tomoki begged, beginning to shout. "Go back! This is an order!" Ikaros said nothing in response. She kept heading towards the Synapse._

_"What's wrong with you?! Isn't your master's command absolute?!" Tomoki asked with desperation. "Haven't I told you already?! 'Stay by my side!' I know you remember me saying that! Why won't you stay with me now?!" There was a short moment of silence before Ikaros finally spoke once more._

_"No, I'm wrong..." she said. Tomoki looked at her in confusion._

_"What...?" he asked her. The two were getting closer to their destination, Ikaros descending towards the ground with her master._

_"That was wrong. Merely calling it happiness isn't enough... What kind of word... would describe this...?" she thought aloud. Suddenly she remembered something._

_"Ah, yes... That's the one..." she said to herself as she slowly faded away, remembering the time when she sat in the school library, reading the many letters that had been sent to her. But only three words had stood out in each of them for her. And she intended to use them now._

_"I love you, Master..." Ikaros said, smiling lovingly at him as she set him down on the ground. Tomoki stared at her in shock, and in disbelief._

_"You damn idiot..." he said angrily. She never stopped smiling._

_"I love you... I love you so much..."_

_"Fool... dumbass...!" Tomoki continued to say. Ikaros never stopped repeating the words. Never stopped. Was never going to stop. Not until she died._

_"I love you... I love you... I love you..."_

_"Why?!" Tomoki shouted. "Why are you smiling now of all times?!" He kept a tight hold of Ikaros' arms, not letting go as she continued to vanish, piece by piece._

_"I love you... I love... love..."_

_"You've never, ever smiled until now!" Tomoki didn't want Ikaros to leave. Not now. Not ever._

_"Don't go!" he begged, although by now Ikaros had already mostly vanished. "Don't leave me, Ikaros! I order you!" But Ikaros wasn't going to come back._

_"I said it's an order, god damn it! You idiot!" Now, all that was left was her core. Her heart. Although she was gone, Ikaros' words echoed in the air around Tomoki._

_I... love you... my... mas... ter..._

_Tomoki hugged her core tight against his chest, crying out in utter sorrow and anguish. She was gone. And she wasn't coming back. At least, for now._

* * *

At night, Tomoki decided to visit the place overlooking Sorami City. To his surprise, he found that Hiyori was already there, who turned to face him as she heard him approaching.

"Oh, hey Hiyori," he greeted, going to stand by her side near the railing. Unbeknownst to both of them, Ikaros was hovering in the sky, a fair distance away from the lookout point as she watched the two of them conversing with each other.

_I wonder what they are talking about right now, _she thought to herself, a dull pain beginning to reside in her reactor. She continued to watch the two talk for a little while longer, when suddenly Hiyori leaned in and kissed a surprised Tomoki. Ikaros herself was surprised, and she placed a hand to her chest as the pain began to increase. She remained that way for a while until she heard a voice in her head.

"Look at them," the voice hissed. The same one from before. "It hurts to watch them, doesn't it?" That was when the static buzzing began and a significant pain in Ikaros' head set in.

"Your master is just hurting you. He's pretending like he cares about you. You don't belong with him. You don't belong with _any _of them!" The pain then spiked, and Ikaros screamed as she arched her back and clutched her head with both hands. The scream drew the attention of both Hiyori and Tomoki, and they quickly spotted Ikaros, who had just begun to fall from the air.

"Ikaros!" Hiyori shouted worriedly as she watched Ikaros rapidly descend towards the ground. She then turned to Tomoki and said, "Grab onto me!" Tomoki did as he was told, wrapping his arms around Hiyori's shoulders and locking his hands by her neck. She blushed momentarily before ascending above the ground and then descending towards Ikaros. Very close to hitting the ground, Hiyori arrived just in time, grabbing Ikaros' hand and stopping her descent. The virus was still attacking her, though, and she grunted and twitched in pain as she was slung over Hiyori and Tomoki's left shoulders.

"Don't worry, Ikaros!" she said. "I'll get you home as soon as possible!" Then, Hiyori ascended back into the sky and headed quickly to Tomoki's house. On the way there, the virus stopped its attack and Ikaros became unconscious. Noticing that Ikaros had stopped convulsing and making noise, Hiyori turned to her in concern as she flew.

"Hey, Ikaros, are you alright?" she asked. "Ikaros?" Hiyori got no response.

"Is she... okay?" Tomoki asked cautiously. There was a long pause.

"I'm not sure," Hiyori responded. They went rest of the way in silence, wondering what would happen next.

* * *

At Tomoki's house, everyone was gathered around the unconscious Ikaros, who lay on the floor in the dining room next to the table. Nymph was in the middle of scanning her system while everyone else waited patiently for an update.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Tomoki asked. Nymph finished the scan and looked up at him.

"Yeah, but there's been an extensive amount of damage done to her system," she said solemnly. "It'll be able to repair itself, but that will take a while for it to do."

"How long are we talking about?" Achos asked with concern.

"Anywhere from one to two days at most," she responded. "If the process is interrupted before then, as in if the virus comes back, the timeline will extend by that much because her system will end up shutting down again." There was a long moment of silence as everyone processed this information. Meanwhile, Hiyori blamed herself for what happened.

"I tried to save her in time," she said quietly, tears in her eyes. "I really did." Tomoki rubbed her back as she cried with her face in her hands.

"It's okay, Hiyori," he soothed. "It wasn't your fault." And there everyone sat, hoping Ikaros would be able to pull through.

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the Synapse, an unknown figure stood behind a screen projecting an image of Tomoki's house.

"What a bothersome downer," he muttered to himself. "I guess I'm just going to have to finish them off in person." Then, he turned and left.

A new threat was going to be arriving soon.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Two chapters in one day... Now there's something I haven't done before.**

**By the way, I've decided that I'm going to ditch Achos' shield name, seeing as Astraea's doesn't have one. I may edit the chapters using the name and take it out.**

* * *

Two days afterward, Ikaros was continuing to make a steady recovery with Nymph constantly monitoring her progress. Luckily there had been no interruptions, the presence of the virus now deemed non-existent. In the morning, everyone came to see Ikaros again.

"How is she?" Tomoki asked. Nymph looked up and smiled.

"Getting better," she responded cheerfully. "Her system will be up and running later today." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief with the knowledge that Ikaros would be okay. However, the angeloids still had a question on their minds that they hadn't gotten an answer for.

Where did the virus come from in the first place?

It looked very likely that they would never know, so they decided to ignore it and became excited for Ikaros' return.

However, they didn't know that the answer to their question would be making an arrival in Sorami City very soon.

* * *

Later that day, Achos was watching one of his action movies, occasionally eating popcorn out of a bag. Astraea was sitting by his side, rapidly eating the popcorn in handfuls since he allowed her to do so. At one point while eating, she ate a bit too quickly and began choking on a kernel. Achos reached out and slapped her back several times until she coughed out the kernel onto the table.

"Seriously, you need to be more careful when you eat," Achos said irritably, along with an annoyed expression.

"Hey, I can't help it if I'm hungry!" Astraea whined, taking a bit of popcorn out of the bag between her thumb and index and middle fingers before popping the pieces in her mouth.

"Astraea, you're _always _hungry," he muttered as he looked back at the TV screen.

"Not always!" Astraea countered. "I mean, I get hungry a lot, but I don't always want to eat food!" Achos decided not to respond, and ate a piece of popcorn while keeping his eyes trained on the movie playing in front of him and his blonde-haired companion.

Suddenly, however, a faint boom caused the two of them to take their attention off of the TV for a moment.

"Did you hear that?" Achos asked, looking at Astraea. She nodded in response.

"Yeah, I felt it too," she said. "What was that?" Achos looked down at the floor in thought.

"Not sure..." he responded. Then he looked back up at Astraea.

"Come on. We should go check it out," he said, standing up and equipping his angeloid clothing. Astraea followed behind him, already ready in her own angeloid clothing.

As they headed outside, they noticed something in the sky. There was a bright yellow beam a far distance away, which had begun to flicker and fade away into the gray skies above.

"Did you see that?!" Astraea said in awe. Achos nodded, a look of surprise on his face.

"Yeah, I did," Achos responded. "Let's go!" He then ascended into the air, flying towards the location where the beam was a moment earlier.

"Wait up!" Astraea called out as she followed close behind him.

"What do you think that was?" she asked as they now flew side by side. Achos shook his head.

"Like I said, I'm not sure. We'll probably know what it was when we get there." There was a short pause between the two before Astraea spoke again.

"Do you think it's another angeloid?" Achos nodded.

"It could be," he responded. "Hopefully it isn't. It'll probably mean trouble."

Sometime later, the two finally reached their destination, which turned out to be the field with the giant cherry blossom. There was a large crater in the ground, with dense smoke and sparks of electricity surrounding it. The angeloids landed on the ground some distance away from the crater, not moving from their spot as they waited for the smoke to clear. It was a while before it did, and the sparking of electricity also came to an end, a figure standing in the centre of the large crater.

"You were right," Achos said dreadfully. "It _is _another angeloid."

The figure was a male, and had brown hair that fell to his shoulders and ears that were similar to Astraea's. He was wearing a white, sleeveless robe that went down to his knees and white armor that covered him from the waist down. His eyes were closed for a moment, but when he opened them, the two other angeloids saw that his eyes were ruby in color like Astraea. He took a few steps forward, until he was standing right in front of the crater.

"I am a Battle Class Angeloid," the male angeloid said, introducing himself. "Type Sigma: Alkaios."

"Alkaios, huh...?" Achos said to himself. "I guess I'm not the only angeloid who's a guy."

"Do you think he's under Minos' control?" Astraea asked.

"Possibly," Achos responded. "However, he could also be another angeloid who was kept away until recently." Astraea nodded understandingly. Then, Alkaios spoke again.

"My mission is to kill Tomoki Sakurai and his protectors, as well as destroy Sorami City and kill the people who occupy it." Achos sighed in annoyance.

"It's the same mission for every angeloid, isn't it...?" he muttered to himself. Suddenly, Astraea activated Chrysaor and her shield, preparing to dash forward.

"You're gonna have to get past me, first!" Astraea shouted. But before she could head off into battle, Achos placed a hand on her shoulder and gripped it tightly until she turned around to face him with a look of confusion on her face.

"Listen, I need you to go back to Tomoki's house and get help," he said. "You're probably going to have to get the people of Sorami to safety. I'll hold Alkaios off in the meantime."

"What?! No way! I'm staying!" Astraea said stubbornly.

"Astraea, please," Achos urged. "We can't let those people die. You and the others have to help them." Astraea looked at the ground for a moment before looking back up at him, nodding reluctantly.

"Okay, fine," she said. "But don't die while I'm gone!" Achos smiled.

"Don't worry. I won't," he said.

"Promise?" Astraea asked, hoping to hear an honest answer.

"Promise," Achos responded. Astraea nodded.

"Good," she said. Then, she turned and skyrocketed upward, heading towards Tomoki's house. After watching her leave, Achos turned to look at Alkaios, who hadn't moved from his spot.

"So, do you wish to be the first to fall?" Alkaios asked flatly. Achos shook his head.

"I'm not going to be the one falling," he growled, activating Nemesis and his shield. Alkaios made the first move though, and accelerated towards Achos at high speed. He then did the same, and the two male angeloids were soon racing towards each other.

Three weeks after the previous one, another battle was beginning.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Hey guys. I tried to get this up the day before, but I couldn't because I didn't have enough time. (I had to sleep a bit earlier because of school) So, in my effort to do so, this chapter became rushed. Sorry about that.**

**I'd like to thank my most recent reviewers: EzriaForever22, FF guest Ryan, and rsdk525. Thanks, guys. There hadn't been any reviewers in a while at the time.**

**Since I've reminded myself after re-watching Episode 8 of the second season that Astraea has the strongest sword out of all the angeloids, I've changed Nemesis' (Achos' sword) power output to slightly _less _than Chrysaor.**

**Keep in mind that there's a reason why I'm mentioning these slight changes (i.e. the changes to Tycho, Achos' cannon).**

* * *

For the first time in two days, Nymph had gone back to watching her soap opera, but this time she decided not to eat while watching. However, her attention was suddenly drawn from the program when she heard the door slam open. In under five seconds, Astraea appeared at the entrance way.

"Nymph!" she called breathlessly. "I really need your help!" Nymph tilted her head curiously, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Help with what, Delta? What's going on?" she asked.

"A new angeloid just arrived and Achos is fighting him! We have to help him!" Astraea responded, with urgency present in her voice. Upon hearing this, Nymph almost immediately snapped to attention.

"Omega's fighting another angeloid?" she asked worriedly. Astraea nodded quickly.

"Okay, let's go!" she said, standing up and equipping her angeloid clothing. Astraea, however, now seemed distracted, looking around the room.

"Hey, where's Ikaros?" she asked. Nymph just looked at her for a moment before smiling. She leaned over to her right and called out.

"Hey, Alpha! There's someone who wants to see you!"

* * *

Up in the skies above Sorami City, Achos fired Tycho with a strained shout. The multiple projectiles that raced towards Alkaios detonated after impacting Aegis-L, which he had just activated with his arm (he didn't possess a shield). When the smoke cleared, he deactivated it and took a deep breath.

"Death Song!" he shouted, opening his mouth and blasting a red beam from it. Achos activated his own Aegis-L before the beam hit, keeping it active for a few seconds until the attack had ended. When he deactivated Aegis-L, Alkaios suddenly flew at full speed towards Achos, and landed a blow that sent him through the sky towards the ground on a diagonal angle. Due to the two angeloids' massive distance from the ground, he was able to give himself some time to recover and hovered upright. However, Alkaios was still coming at him, and he activated his shield in order to block the next blow. Achos then activated Nemesis and swung it downwards at Alkaios, who quickly withdrew from his position.

"So, were you the one that created the virus?" Achos asked as he swung again at his opponent, who again dodged the strike. "Were you the one that attacked us?" Another strike, another dodge.

"Yes," Alkaios responded flatly. "Initially I planned to only sabotage your systems so that I could kill Tomoki Sakurai without any interference. However, your resistance proved to be more than a match for the virus, so I had to complete my mission in person." Achos deactivated Nemesis and threw a punch that Alkaios caught, him now gripping Achos' fist in his hand.

"Did Minos send you?" Achos asked, his voice strained as he tried to fight against Alkaios' grip.

"That information is restricted," Alkaios answered, raising his other fist and landing a blow to Achos' chest. This time, Achos was unable to control himself as he spun in midair and crash-landed in a random field. Alkaios soon flew in pursuit of him to the crash-site.

Achos leaned on his side as he tried to get up. His armor was quite damaged at this point, and was slightly weakened by the physical damage inflicted upon him thus far. He looked up to see Alkaios rapidly descending towards him, opening his mouth and preparing to fire Death Song. Mustering up all of his strength, Achos rolled over and narrowly avoided the red beam. It soon disappeared and in a second Alkaios landed on the area Achos was previously occupying. He got up and activated Tycho, but before he could, Alkaios had tackled him and had him pinned to the ground.

"You are a priority target, as well as a threat to my primary mission," Alkaios said monotonously, flying up a short distance away from the ground. "Therefore, you must be terminated." Then, he opened his mouth. However, his mouth didn't glow red like it usually did when he prepared to fire Death Song. In fact, he wasn't firing Death Song.

"Sonic Song!" Alkaios shouted, a high pitched scream emanating from his throat as a nigh-invisible sound-wave was fired at Achos. He screamed in pain, covering his ears in an attempt to shield himself from the ear-piercing noise. After a few seconds, the blast ended and Achos was left twitching. He then quickly activated Tycho, almost blindly aimed it at Alkaios and fired. He was protected by Aegis-L once again, but it managed to provide enough of a distraction to get Achos up on his feet. He activated Nemesis and, with a shout, flew towards Alkaios and swung the sword. However, Alkaios was already out of the way and delivered yet another strong punch to Achos, knocking him back into the ground and making him slide on it. The Sonic Song had made him very weak, and he had even more trouble trying to get up this time. Alkaios flew slowly towards him until he was hovering near him. Achos put a halt to his efforts and stared hard at Alkaios as he took a deep breath, his mouth glowing red as an indication that he was about to fire Death Song.

Suddenly, he was interrupted as something knocked into him from behind and sent him flying into the ground a fair distance away from Achos. When he turned to look away from the explosion of dirt and dust, Ikaros replaced Alkaios' spot as she now hovered by Achos.

"I apologize that we're late," she said as she descended towards the ground, walking over to help him up as Nymph and Astraea soon arrived.

"What are you guys doing here?" Achos asked, now slung over Ikaros' shoulder. "You're supposed to be getting the people in Sorami City to safety!"

"You're welcome," Nymph huffed, crossing her arms and staring hard at Achos. Suddenly he had a guilty expression.

"Sorry. Thanks guys," he said quietly. Ikaros simply nodded wordlessly, Nymph smiled and blushed as she turned away, and Astraea smiled as well.

"That's what friends are for," Nymph said, turning her head back towards Achos. He quickly returned the smile.

Then, the angeloids turned their attention to the almost-faded cloud of smoke behind them, and noticed that Alkaios was rising from the spot. He slowly turned towards them, his face void of any expression. No pain or anger to be seen. Nothing. This gave the other angeloids reason to believe that Alkaios' emotional control was low. This was bad, because an angeloid with a low emotional control means its orders take almost complete priority, which makes the angeloid much more dangerous. They stopped thinking about this when he opened his now glowing red mouth, a strange sound escaping from his throat.

"Scatter!" Achos shouted, and the angeloids managed to separate just in time to avoid the Death Song. Achos, who was still slung over Ikaros' shoulder, stood on his feet and withdrew his arm from her grasp.

"I'll be fine," he said, and Ikaros nodded as they ascended a fair distance above the ground and joined up with Nymph and Astraea. Alkaios flew up to match their level and remained hovering in the air, observing the new group of angeloids.

"Assessing threat," he said aloud, scanning the group. "All priority targets identified. Proceeding to terminate." Alkaios once again prepared to fire the Death Song. When he did, nothing needed to be said as the other angeloids separated again on either side of the beam and raced toward him.

Knowing they were up against a powerful foe, especially after witnessing Achos' state, the angeloids wanted to eliminate the threat as soon as possible.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: I apologize about this chapter. I personally believe that this was poorly written. Some days I write well, some days I don't. I guess this is one of those days when I don't write well.**

**You'll find that this chapter very closely resembles Chapter 56 in the manga.**

* * *

All of the angeloids attacked Alkaios subsequently, but he managed to evade all of their attacks, turning to his sides and rotating around them as they came at him. Nymph turned around, distancing herself a bit more from Alkaios, and took a deep breath.

"Paradise Song!" she shouted, firing said weapon at her target. Alkaios immediately countered the attack with Death Song, and the two beams met in the centre of both angeloids in an explosion of various colors. The clash wasn't long though, seeing as the duration of these particular attacks wasn't long. However, Alkaios immediately advanced on Nymph, landing a speeding punch that sent her through the air. Astraea soon followed up, striking at Alkaios from above with Chrysaor, but ultimately missing her target as he sped off slightly to the side. She tried striking again, but missed again as Alkaios evaded her and countered with another punch that sent her away a fair distance. Ikaros attacked next, delivering several unsuccessful blows that Alkaios partly evaded and partly blocked. He returned a few blows of his own, many of which connected with Ikaros. Then Alkaios pulled his fist back and landed a final blow to Ikaros' chest, which sent her a far distance through the sky.

Hearing a strained and drawn-out cry, Alkaios turned behind him to see a damaged Achos flying towards him at a fairly fast flight speed, although not at top speed. Alkaios was almost easily able to grab Achos' fist as he delivered the punch, gripping it tightly.

"Do you really believe that you possess the upper hand, Omega?" he asked, his voice remaining monotonous. "You do not." Alkaios then pulled back his fist and delivered a blow that connected with Achos' face and made him veer off to the side and spin a couple of times before he regained control.

"You're merely a weapon that was discontinued by its creators," Alkaios continued. There was no expression in his tone, but his words stung Achos far worse than any physical pain. "You do not have the support of the other angeloids. You cannot win this fight." Achos' head was downcast as he hovered, a shadow cast over the upper part of his face. He remained silent for a long time. The other angeloids, now who were now nearby, waited anxiously for a reaction. When they didn't get any for some time, Alkaios raced toward Achos to land a blow. However, Achos very suddenly grabbed his fist and gripped it with all the strength he could muster.

"No," Achos just as suddenly said, lifting his head to meet Alkaios' gaze. "You're wrong about that." Achos then delivered a counter-blow, but purposely didn't put all of his power into it so that Alkaios could "stick around" for what he had to say.

"Maybe I'm a discontinued weapon, but I _do _have the support of the others. People who I've hurt, people who I tried to _kill. _And despite all that, they forgave me for all the bad... no, horrible things I've done to them. And I've grown to treasure these people because of that. The other angeloids are right here with me with their encouragement." Achos clenched his fists.

"And now..." he continued, "you'll get to see the result." Then, he opened his hands and outstretched them by his sides as his body began to emit a white glow. With the exception of Alkaios, the other angeloids looked in awe at the scene unfolding before them.

"To hell with being a weapon that hurts people!" Achos shouted defiantly. "To hell with being bound by orders! I don't need any of that when I have people that trust in me... that believe me!" Astraea and Nymph smiled as he said this. They knew that Tomoki would be proud of him if he were here with them.

A vertical white beam formed around Achos as the other angeloids looked on. Alkaios seemed unfazed, unlike the others. A moment later, the white beam disappeared and Ikaros, Nymph and Astraea gasped at what they saw.

Achos' shoulder plates had now been upgraded, growing larger and longer in size and hovering by his sides. His original clothing had now been replaced by a completely black undershirt and a long black jacket overtop with red stripes on either side of the torso area and white stripes on the areas covering his arms. The jacket itself went down to his knees. Achos' wings were no longer white, they were now mostly black, and were red near the wings' tips. He had also grown additional set of wings, which were also black and red in color.

After a while, Achos opened his eyes and glared at Alkaios, whose expression remained neutral. The rest of the angeloids, however, stared in amazement at Achos' transformation, knowing what had just happened.

"Type Omega: Achos Version Two activated," Achos said aloud as his eyes closed again, activating Nemesis. The sword also received an upgrade, two thin side blades now situated slightly apart from the main blade.

"Nemesis Mark Two. Power output now matches the output of Chrysaor. Two additional blades have been added for long range attack. Long range attack power at 43%. Initiating power-on self-test. Mode 1: Close Combat," he said monotonously, dashing towards Alkaios with the upgraded sword as sparks of electricity trailed behind it. As usual, however, he evaded the strike, but he distanced himself a bit farther than usual.

"Test results inconclusive. Unable to draw up final result," he continued, suddenly aiming the sword at Alkaios.

"Initiating power-on self-test. Mode 2: Long Range," he said, firing the two additional blades which were propelled by their own boosters. The two blades met their mark, and as they made contact with their target and exploded, Alkaios was sent spinning backward, although he wasn't sent back too far. Smoke erupted from the hilt out of the places where the two additional blades once were.

"Difficulties in projectile blade replacement. Cooldown speed delayed by 4.6 seconds. Adjusting," Achos said, and soon the two blades were soon replaced from out of nowhere.

"Adjustment complete," he finished, deactivating the sword. Then, he activated something new: a black scythe with a red photon blade similar to that of Nemesis'.

"New weapon identified as Melanthios. Power output is at 84%. Initiating power-on self-test," Achos said as he flew over to Alkaios, lifting the scythe above his head and swinging it down with great force. Once again, Alkaios sped to the side and dodged the strike.

"Test results inconclusive. Unable to draw up final result," Achos said as he did when testing Nemesis Mark Two, deactivating Melanthios. Then, Alkaios suddenly opened his mouth and fired Death Song at him.

"Initiating power-on self-test," Achos repeated, activating an upgraded version of Aegis. The Death Song, rather than simply meeting the shield dead-on, actually got deflected off of the shield's surface.

"Aegis Mark Two deployment successful," he concluded. Alkaios then raced towards him, preparing to deliver a punch.

"Initiating power-on self-test," he repeated again, suddenly activating his shield and Aegis-L just as Alkaios delivered the punch. The (originally) pentagonal, black-bodied and red-outlined shield received an additional side on the top of the originally flat side, making the shield longer and covering up more space, as well as turning it into a wide hexagon as opposed to a pentagon.

"Aegis-L deployment successful," Achos concluded, pulling back his fist and deactivating Aegis-L to deliver a counter-punch, which sent Alkaios a far distance away from Achos. "Beginning armor test. Mode 2: Close Combat." Suddenly, electricity began to spark around Achos as he clenched his fists.

"Armor reduced by 38%. Maximum rotational speed increased by 354%," he said. "Accelerating." He then raced towards Alkaios, and began delivering rapid punches to him. He blocked some of the punches, but then ended up being drowned in an extremely fast barrage of them. Achos delivered one last punch that sent Alkaios crash-landing into a nearby field below them.

"Power-on self-tests complete," Achos finished. "Initiating normal operation." Achos then opened his eyes, and looked at the massive cloud of smoke rising from the field. The other angeloids stared in awe for a moment, before Nymph and Astraea began cheering. Achos turned to them, and smiled. However, something caught his eye as he noticed a red glow coming from the field. Fully turning towards it, he realized it was Death Song and he quickly activated Aegis Mark Two in time to deflect it. In a moment's notice, Alkaios was already on his way back up and delivered a punch that sent Achos backward. As he flew back, Nymph and Astraea caught him by the arms, steadying him. The group of angeloids were now arranged in a row in front of Alkaios, who was a fair distance away from them. Achos then looked at the others, who nodded in understanding. One by one, the rest of them activated their Pandora modes, changing in appearance.

"Assessing threat," Alkaios said to himself. "Threat level has risen. Now proceeding with caution." The rest of the angeloids glared at Alkaios.

"Let's finish this," Achos declared, the others nodding in agreement. Soon, they set off after Alkaios.

The battle had now been restarted.


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Hey guys. This is going to be the second-last chapter for "Dark Skies". The last chapter will be released tomorrow on March 29th, 2014.**

* * *

Achos was the first to attack, striking at Alkaios with Nemesis Mark II. Once again he missed, and Alkaios landed a punch to his gut, sending him off to the side. Alkaios then blocked a punch coming from Ikaros and landed a quick counter-blow, making her spin backwards in the air. When Astraea raced towards him with Chrysaor Mark III, Alkaios dodged the strike and the several others that Astraea delivered. He opened his mouth and fired Death Song, which hit the blonde-haired angeloid dead-on as she did not have time to activate Aegis-L. Not a minute into the battle, and one angeloid had already suffered major damage as Astraea crash-landed into the ground below. Alkaios noticed Nymph coming at him from behind, and he quickly turned around, switching his fire mode to the incapacitating Sonic Song. He quickly fired the nigh-invisible beam at her, stopping Nymph in her tracks as she covered her ears and screamed in pain. It didn't take long before she began to fall from her position in the sky. However, a moment later she was saved as Achos flew below her and caught her during her descent. As she looked at him, she smiled thankfully.

"Thanks Omega," she said gratefully. Achos returned the smile.

"You're always welcome," he responded. This made Nymph blush lightly, but the moment was quickly ended as they heard a _boom _in the air and remembered what they were doing. Nymph soon hovered beside Achos and the two skyrocketed upward towards Ikaros and Alkaios, who were now fighting.

The _boom _that Achos and Nymph heard earlier was the sound of Alkaios just blocking a punch from Ikaros with Aegis-L, but now he had the shield deactivated as the pink-haired angeloid began to throw several rapid punches at him. Most of them were dodged, although some of them were blocked. Before Ikaros could land another, Alkaios landed a blow of his own to Ikaros, and as she was sent backward Achos caught her and steadied her. She briefly looked back at him and nodded in thanks before the two turned their attention back to their target.

"Throw me," Achos said as he activated Melanthios. Ikaros looked at him in confusion.

"Huh?" she asked, looking for clarification.

"Throw me!" Achos repeated, holding his arm out for Ikaros to grab. She nodded and did so, spinning him around once before lobbing him at Alkaios with full-force. Achos rapidly approached Alkaios, and managed to cut off part of his left wing as he tried to evade. Alkaios grunted in pain, and wobbled a bit from his position in the air. He was about to fire Death Song at Achos, when suddenly he got knocked forward from behind by a punch from Nymph. As Alkaios inadvertently fired the beam, it was projected downward and impacted a random part of a field below them somewhere near the city. Nymph then advanced on Alkaios and put him in a chokehold, squeezing his throat as tightly as she could. For a while, she could hear Alkaios making strangled sounds, but then she released him from her chokehold when she felt an elbow collide hard with her stomach, and then she was knocked backward a far distance by a punch from Alkaios. He heard a yell coming from behind him, and he turned to see Achos advancing on him once again with Melanthios. This time, however, he managed to successfully evade the strike and distanced himself from Achos, his flight speed slightly decreased due to now having a partial wing on his left side. Ikaros quickly followed in pursuit of Alkaios, stopping momentarily to fire Artemis Mark II. Hearing the lock-on warnings sounding off in his head, Alkaios turned and activated Aegis-L, blocking the high-speed missiles just in time. Ikaros continued to advance, throwing a few punches when she reached him. As she threw another one, Alkaios twisted to the side and landed a blow to Ikaros' stomach, sending her back a fair distance away.

Alkaios then heard another shout from behind him, but this time when he turned behind, he saw Astraea racing toward him with Chrysaor III, visibly very damaged from the impact of Death Song. The length of the upgraded sword made it very difficult to evade its strikes, and Alkaios narrowly avoided each consecutive one. However, Astraea did manage to cut Alkaios' cheek when she struck again. He turned to fly away but was quickly met with a strong punch to his chest that was delivered by Achos, and Astraea cleared the way as Alkaios spun backward. Soon enough, the group reassembled as Astraea joined Achos' side, quickly followed by Ikaros and Nymph. As Alkaios regained control of himself, he fired Death Song off to the side and began to move the beam towards the group, like the motion of a chainsaw cutting through a tree. Ikaros and Nymph flew downward while Astraea and Achos flew up, narrowly avoiding the cutting path of Death Song. Ikaros raced towards Alkaios, landing several blows before Alkaios swatted her away. However, he wasn't given time to recover as Nymph landed several blows of her own. After a few more of them, Alkaios managed to swat her away too. Astraea once again tried her hand at striking him with her sword, but forced her to distance herself from Alkaios as he fired Death Song after doing so.

Achos observed the scene from a short distance away and realized that their efforts were hopeless. Alkaios was just too strong of an opponent, despite his lack of weaponry. Then, Achos realized that there was one weapon he hadn't examined yet. He activated Tycho Mark II, examining the cannon in his hand.

"Tycho Mark Two," he said aloud to himself as the battle continued not far from where he was. "Overall power output increased by 55%. Beam mode will now indefinitely destroy its target when overcharged, but has the potentiality to destroy the user as well." Achos thought about this carefully for a moment, looking up at the battle ensuing in front of him. Then he looked back down at Tycho Mark II, a look of realization and sadness on his face.

_I have to do it, _he thought to himself. _I... we have no choice. _Then, Achos deactivated the cannon and raced toward Alkaios just as he swatted Ikaros away, landing a blow that sent him skyrocketing towards the ground. Achos quickly accelerated towards the crash site, not wanting to let Alkaios get away. As said angeloid was on his side attempting to get up, Achos landed in front of him, running a short distance before bending down and driving his palm into the side of Alkaios' face, pressing the other side against the dirt. He then activated Tycho Mark II and pressed it against Alkaios' chest, activating Aegis Mark II. The other angeloids soon arrived at the area behind the shield, looks of shock and worry on their faces as they looked at Achos.

"Omega...?" Nymph asked cautiously as Achos turned to look at her. "What are you doing...?" He looked off to the side, his look of sadness returning as he sighed. Then, he looked back at the angeloids as he started the charge for the beam mode.

"I'm truly sorry," he answered solemnly, "but I don't have a choice."


	21. Chapter 21

**AN: Well, this is the last chapter for "Dark Skies". Don't worry, though. Soon I'll be releasing a sequel called "Last Goodbyes", and you can expect that sometime in April (which isn't too far away right now).**

**I really had fun writing this story. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy this last chapter. I also hope you'll keep an eye out for the sequel.**

* * *

The other angeloids stared at Achos, confused by what he just said.

"Achos, what are you talking about?" Astraea asked, worry evident in her voice. Achos looked back down at the ground for a moment, before looking back at the group of angeloids standing behind Aegis Mark II.

"Before, if Tycho was overcharged, there was a chance of it destroying its target as well as damaging the user in the process," he explained. "But now that it's been upgraded, it'll destroy its target for good, but..." Achos paused and swallowed hard.

"It may also destroy the user as well," he finished, his voice slightly shaky. The other angeloids almost immediately widened their eyes in shock, realizing what Achos was going to do.

"That's crazy!" Astraea exclaimed. "You promised me you wouldn't die!" Nymph raced up to Aegis Mark II and pressed her palms hard against it, tears welling in her eyes.

"No, Omega, you can't do this!" she screamed, her tears now flowing down her cheeks. Ikaros, however, said nothing. She only looked at Achos with an expression that displayed both sadness and understanding. Although she didn't want Achos to potentially sacrifice his own life to eliminate the threat, she knew that it had to be done.

"I have to," Achos responded to Nymph, trying to keep his voice steady. "There isn't any other way to stop Alkaios." Nymph shook her head in denial.

"No, it doesn't have to end like this!" Nymph pleaded desperately. "We can work together to defeat him!" Achos said nothing in response, the electrical hum of Tycho Mark II being the only sound at that moment.

"Please," Nymph said quietly. "I'm begging you." Achos closed his eyes and sighed through his nose.

"When I came here," he said, his eyes now opening as he looked off to the side, "I didn't know what to do. I only wanted to carry out the one order I was given after waking up. But then I met you and Tomoki and the others, and..." There was a crackling sound as a long, orange strand of electricity sparked outside of the cannon.

"You guys made my life worth living," Achos finished. Tears welled in Astraea's eyes as she watched and listened to Achos.

"Don't do this..." Nymph pleaded silently.

"I wasn't here long, but..." Achos continued, "I really enjoyed the time that I was here." Two more strands of orange electricity sparked around the cannon, and a warning began to sound off in Achos' head that indicated that it was reaching a complete overcharge.

"Omega, stop it!" Nymph shouted, sobbing uncontrollably. Achos then looked at the other angeloids and smiled at them.

"Take care of yourselves and our human friends, alright?" Achos said, as several strands of electricity began to spark all at once. The other angeloids knew that the moment was coming.

"_S__top!_" Nymph screamed. Achos didn't stop smiling, nor did he stop charging the cannon.

"Thank you. All of you," he said, as the cannon glowed a bright orange. Ikaros approached Nymph and grabbed her under the arms, flying backward from Achos' Aegis Mark II.

"NO!" Nymph screamed, just as the cannon fired. Rather than a beam, a massive explosion erupted inside the crater, which was contained by the upgraded shield. The other angeloids looked on in horror as they watched the scene in front of them. After a few more seconds, the explosion finally settled into a cloud of smoke, and Aegis Mark II was disabled as Achos' severely damaged body was flung out of the crater, spinning in mid-air and then impacting the ground face-first. The angeloids descended and quickly rushed over to Achos' body. His leg armor was damaged, his jacket was torn in several places and he was covered in dirt. Ikaros turned Achos over so that he was now facing up, and the angeloids looked at him with deep concern. They saw that there were two gashes on either side of his face. Nymph placed a hand to his forehead, her face gracing a blank look.

"System damage..." she said shakily, "is 87%... Self-restoration program is inoperable... Condition deteriorating..." Ikaros and Astraea now had looks of dismay that replaced their initial looks of hope. Then, suddenly Astraea's look of hope returned.

"Wait a minute!" she said, looking at Nymph. "Oregano's a Medical Class angeloid, isn't she? Doesn't that mean she can repair Achos' system?" Nymph thought about this for a moment.

"I'm not sure," she responded, "but it's worth a shot. Get her here, but hurry. His system will shut down if we take too long." Astraea nodded, and skyrocketed upwards, heading to Mikako's house in hopes of finding the medical angeloid. Meanwhile, Ikaros and Nymph were knelt by his sides, hoping that he could be saved in time.

* * *

Several minutes later, Tomoki, Sohara, Daedalus and Chaos had arrived at the scene, looking over Achos' body. The condition of his system had gotten worse and was nearing a permanent shut-down. However, Astraea then arrived with Oregano descending with her. The crowd of people cleared the way for Oregano as she knelt by Achos' side, placing two hands over his chest and activating her advanced medical system.

"Scanning affected area," she said aloud, beginning her examination. "Multiple lung injuries. Heart injury. System functionality has been decreased." She then got to work with her medical tools, repairing the damage done to Achos.

"Regenerating chest. Beginning cellular reconstruction. Removing dead cells. Advanced resuscitation complete." Nymph, despite her detest for Oregano, was currently grateful for her presence.

Oregano deactivated her medical system and stood up, taking a step back. The others moved a bit closer, looking intently at Achos. It wasn't long before he slowly opened his eyes, greeted by the sight of his friends watching over him. With the exceptions of Ikaros and Oregano, they all smiled with joy in knowing that Achos had survived. He blinked once, groaned and slowly sat up, surveying the group of people around him. There was a moment of silence before he spoke.

"Did I survive...?" he asked. Tomoki nodded.

"Yeah... you did," he answered. Once again Achos looked at his friends, and nodded in acknowledgement.

"I've already said this, but... Thank you. All of you," he said, repeating exactly what he said before. The gray clouds above the group began to part as the sun shone through the clouds, revealing the bright blue skies above.

Peace had returned once more in Sorami City.

* * *

"Hey! Wake up, you dumbass! We'll be late for school!" Tomoki sleepily opened his eyes and turned his head to the side, seeing a blank-faced Ikaros and a frustrated looking Achos. Sixteen days had passed since Achos' resuscitation, and everyone was resuming their regular routine.

"Okay, okay, I'm getting up," Tomoki said, upset that his dream was interrupted. Achos sighed noisily.

"Everything you dream about seems to be perverted," he mumbled, standing up from his position. "Breakfast has already been made. The others are eating right now."

After they had breakfast and after everyone got ready, the group headed off for school and were joined by Hiyori Kazane. After school, that same group headed back with the additions of Sugata, Mikako, Daedalus, Chaos, Oregano, and Yoshitsune Hououin. As they stopped when Oregano and Nymph got into a (rather routine) fight, Achos examined the group before him.

_These are some crazy people I'm with, _he thought, taking another look at them with his hands locked behind his head as usual. Then he smiled.

_But they're my people._

* * *

**AN: I'd like to give a shout-out to the following people (in order of date):**

**Matthew42 (reviewed and followed)  
luca_yajima (reviewed and followed)  
Jackthebean (reviewed, added story to favorites and followed)  
FF Guest Winky Keaton (frequent reviewer, although I deleted many of his reviews due to either being long or not needed)  
bamafelix (reviewed)  
emodarkwolf14 (followed)  
colbert2677 (reviewed, added story to favorites and followed)  
FF Guest Ryan (reviewed)  
NavigatorZita (added story to favorites and followed)  
jamiemartin1 (added story to favorites and followed)  
****rsdk525 (frequent reviewer)  
roadie0787 (added story to favorites)  
FF Guest sx (reviewed)  
FF Guest Dude 101 (reviewed)  
FF Guest Crad (reviewed)  
MasterSpecter (reviewed, added story to favorites and followed)  
Lanesta19 (added story to favorites and followed)  
EzriaForever22 (frequent reviewer, added story to favorites and followed)  
Cuber383 (added story to favorites)  
**

**Thank you to the people listed above, and anyone who read the entire story. Make sure to keep an eye out for the sequel.**


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